Crude Takes a Turn After Jobs Data Oil Alert
NEW YORK (
) -- Oil futures were losing some steam following the release of
rather mixed unemployment figures.
On Friday morning, the front-month crude contract was trading at $67.71, after losing 25 cents. On Thursday, the contract dipped by 9 cents to settle at $67.96.
The oil price bumped up, then went lower after Labor Department officials said the unemployment rate moved higher by three-tenths to hit 9.7% in August. Still, the officials also reported that job losses ebbed a bit in the month, with employers slashing 216,000 from payrolls compared to the upwardly adjusted 276,000 figure in July.
Prior to the release,
Reuters estimates forecast the unemployment rate would rise to 9.5% along with the report also showing 225,000 in job cuts.
Turning to stocks, many of the oil majors were mixed on a Friday morning ahead of the Labor Day weekend.
Exxon Mobil
(XOM) - Get Report
shares were trading somewhat flat, up 7 cents at $68.33.
Marathon Oil
(MRO) - Get Report
, which closed in positive territory yesterday, was slipping a bit, down 7 cents at $30.33.
Chevron
(CVX) - Get Report
was also treading along the plus-minus line, up 2 cents at $68.35.
American depositary shares for
BP
(BP) - Get Report
and
Royal Dutch Shell
(RDS.A)
were off today, down 0.2% and 0.5% each.
ConocoPhillips
(COP) - Get Report
, which lost 12 cents to close at $44.22 on Thursday, was moving higher by 19 cents at $44.41.
-- Written by Sung Moss in New York
Follow TheStreet.com on
and become a fan on
Copyright 2009 TheStreet.com Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
