Oil edges up amid brutal week of losses, markets await US jobs data

Investing.com - Crude prices edged higher on Friday amid deep weekly losses left by one of the oil market’s worst tumbles for the year.

With September US jobs data, due later on Friday, being the final major development for this week awaited by markets, some support emerged for oil trading at closer to $80 per barrel than the mid-$95 levels of last month.

“After the heavy move down on the week, it won’t be unusual to see a little recovery though the momentum for oil is still decidedly down,” said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital. “Also, some speculative bids are likely to come in ahead of the jobs data.”

Wall Street economists tracked by Investing.com predicted that some 170,000 new non-farm payrolls were created last week versus August’s 187,000. The Federal Reserve will be closing watching the jobs report for ideas on what to do with interest rates at its forthcoming policy meeting in November. 

The central bank has maintained projections that it will likely need a quarter point hike in either November or December, although Chairman Jerome Powell and his retinue of policy makers say their final decision will be guided more by inflation and other economic data.

WTI down 9% on week, Brent more than 11% lower

On the oil front, New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude for delivery in November was up 41 cents, or 0.5%, to $82.72 per barrel by 09:48 (09:48 Eastern US) in Singapore trading. 

For the week though, the U.S. crude benchmark was down 9%, heading for its sharpest weekly loss since April, after a five-week low of $82.16.

London-traded Brent for the most-active December contract was up 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $84.41. 

For the week, the global crude benchmark was down more than 11%, on course to its sharpest weekly loss since March, after a five-week low of $82.84.

The selloff in oil came on the back of sagging fuel demand in the United States following the end of the peak summer driving period, which had left gasoline consumption at its lowest seasonal level in 25 years. US gasoline stockpiles rose by 6.481M barrels last week, the single largest weekly build since January 2022. 

Oil prices also fell on concerns about what the ramp up over the two past two months in US Treasury yields and the dollar could do to international demand for crude from buyers using other currencies.