Oil: an overview of the market situation

Oil prices rose slightly , supported by expectations regarding the increase in demand after the U.S. government reported that the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low . Recall that the United States is the largest consumer of oil in the world , according to this , these economic data are very important in this regard. Reducing unemployment also increases the likelihood that the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin to reduce the amount of its bond purchase program , which can reduce support riskier assets such as oil and other commodities .

Report from the Ministry of Labor showed that the number of jobs outside agriculture in November rose by 203,000 . The unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 7.0 %. This is the lowest level in five years. Economists had forecast an increase in the number of jobs to 184,000 and an unemployment rate of 7.2% .. Data for September and October were revised upward by a total of 8000.

Meanwhile, another report showed that the preliminary index of consumer sentiment from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan in December rose to 82.5 . In November, the index was at 75.1 . December's value was the highest since July. This is better than expectations of economists at around 76.2 ,

All the growth index is associated with households with incomes below $ 75,000 per year. In households with higher income mood compared to the previous month has not improved . Almost all the increase is attributed to improved economic outlook for the coming year .

We also add that an indicator of current economic conditions rose from 88.0 in November to 97.9 , higher than expectations of 90 , and the indicator of economic expectations rose from 66.8 to 72.7 , which is above expectations in 68 . Evaluation index of current economic conditions was the highest since July, and the index of economic expectations - in August. Expectations for inflation in the long term than one year increased from 2.9% to 3.0%. Expectations for inflation in the long term from 5 to 10 years decreased from 2.9 % to 2.8 %.

Higher prices also continue to help yesterday's data on U.S. GDP growth , which were much better than the experts' forecasts .

The price of January futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose to $ 97.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

January futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture rose 24 cents to $ 111.25 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.