Head Start: Oil jumps on back of US jobs growth

NEW YORK: Oil prices pushed higher Friday as strong US jobs growth data sparked hopes for improved demand in the world’s largest crude consumer. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for April delivery jumped $1.35 to $35.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent North Sea crude for May delivery, the European benchmark for oil, finished at $38.72 a barrel, up $1.65. WTI notched a gain of roughly $3 over the week, while Brent was up more than $3.5. It was the second consecutive week of solid gains on the oil market, which had wallowed near 13-year lows below $30 a barrel in January as the persistent global oversupply appeared likely to stretch into the distant future. Job growth was much stronger than expected in February and the unemployment rate held at 4.9%, an eight-year low.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2016.

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