Oil Futures Recovered from Weekly Losses
HOUSTON, TX (DTN) -- Oil futures ended up on Friday as markets continued
reacting positively to the announcement of additional sanctions imposed by the
U.S. Department of the Treasury on Iranian oil trade. These actions are
expected to affect global supplies and put upward pressure on oil prices.
Yesterday (2/6), the Department of the Treasury announced sanctions on "an
international network for facilitating the shipment of millions of barrels of
Iranian crude oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the People's
Republic of China."
U.S. President Donald Trump reinstated a "maximum pressure" campaign against
Iran, aiming to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero.
Expectations of tight oil global supplies, due to stricter sanctions on
Russian and Iranian oil trade from the U.S., set the bullish tone in the oil
markets to close the week.
Oil futures recovered from multi-day losses due to the uncertainty generated
by trade tariffs the Trump administration imposed on imported goods from China
last weekend, while delaying for a month the retaliatory tariffs on imports
from Canada and Mexico. High inventory levels on crude and gasoline inventory
also have contributed to the bearish tone seen in oil futures markets over the
past three weeks.
The front-month NYMEX WTI futures contract rose by $0.38 to $70.75 bbl while
the April ICE Brent futures contract increased by $0.34 to $74.63 bbl. March
RBOB futures contract rose by $0.0298 to $2.1045 gallon while ULSD futures
contract for March delivery increased by $0.0376 to $2.4356 gallon.
The U.S. dollar index rose by 0.38% to 107.93 against a basket of foreign
currencies.
This morning the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that total nonfarm
payroll employment rose by 143,000 in January, and the unemployment rate edged
down to 4%. Both figures were below the market expectations of 169,000 and
4.1%, respectively.
Job gains occurred in healthcare, retail trade, and social assistance, while
employment dropped in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction
industry, the BLS said.
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