According to Reuters, oil prices were little changed on Friday and were expected to finish the week lower as concerns about supply interruptions were allayed by continued ceasefire talks in Gaza and by weaker adjustments to US employment figures, which raised questions about demand.
At 7:33 a.m. Saudi time, both US West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude futures were up 10 cents, or 0.1 percent, apiece. This week, Brent futures, which have dropped almost 3 percent, were trading at $77.32 per barrel, while WTI, which has lost almost 5 percent, was trading at $73.11.
This week, both benchmarks fell to their lowest levels since early January as a result of the US government’s dramatic downward revision to its estimate of the number of new jobs created by firms in the nation through March.
That raised worries about how the US recession may affect demand in the country that consumes the most oil, but some analysts argue that this was an overreaction to the jobs correction.
Fears of a hard economic landing in the US caused the current drop, but data revealed that the labor market is gradually cooling rather than rapidly decreasing. Signs of strong demand in the US backed this, according to analysts at ANZ Research.
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