A brighter-than-anticipated jobs report in the globe's top consumer helped propel West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures higher in value on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
The U.S. Labor Department indicated jobless claims fell to 339,000, representing the lowest level since March 9. Also propping up the energy commodity was the Energy Information Administration noting inventories of gasoline have dropped.
"There's been concern about the U.S. economy but the jobless claims number makes the picture a little bit better," president Michael Lynch with Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts, told the news source on Thursday. "Economic news is bullish today. We are also getting a bounce from that inventory report yesterday."
At 1:06 p.m., WTI crude oil futures rose 1.12 percent, a $1.02 rise to $92.45 per barrel. At 1:01 p.m., Brent crude oil futures climbed 0.94 percent, a 96-cent gain to $102.69 per barrel.
Reuters reports the second-largest producer of the energy commodity in Canada, Imperial Oil Ltd., saw profits drop during the first quarter of this year by 21 percent, which was linked with reduced prices on crude and surging maintenance required for refineries.
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