A Labor Department report indicated not as many jobs were created in January as economists anticipated, which helped push down Brent crude oil futures, Bloomberg reports.
January saw employers create 36,000 new jobs while a payroll increase of 146,000 was anticipated. An Energy Department report indicated stockpiles for gasoline have climbed to their largest amount in nearly 18 years since demand has decreased.
"The fuel markets are weighing on crude," Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York, told the news service. "Today's jobless numbers showed many fewer people got jobs than expected and that many others have simply given up looking for work, which raise concerns about U.S. consumer demand. We already are looking at weak demand and very high stockpiles."
Just prior to 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Brent crude oil futures were down 1.63 percent, a slip of $1.66 to $100.10 per barrel.
Another factor influencing crude oil futures is the ongoing anti-government uprising in Egypt, through which approximately 2.5 percent of global oil shipments pass.
"A significant part of Egypt's revenue comes from the Suez Canal and tourism," Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank in Washington, told Bloomberg. "Since tourism will be hurt for a while because of the unrest, whoever is in control will definitely want to keep both the Suez Canal and the SuMed pipeline running smoothly."
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