Crude Oil Higher; Payrolls Point to Further US Growth By Investing.com – Investing.com

Crude Oil Higher; Payrolls Point to Further US Growth By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse   

Investing.com -- Crude oil prices edged higher Friday, continuing the recent rally amid growing expectations of an improving fuel demand outlook, particularly by the U.S., the world's largest consumer.

By 9:45 AM ET (1345 GMT), was up 1.2% at $69.60 a barrel, after settling the previous session at its highest level since October 2018. was up 0.9% at $72.05, climbing above $72 for the first time since April 2019.

For the week, Brent is on track for a gain of 3.4% and U.S. crude is heading for a 5% rise. It is the second week of gains for both contracts.

U.S. were up 0.8% at $2.2195 a gallon.

Helping the tone Friday was the latest U.S. release, which showed that job growth accelerated in May, signaling firms are making some progress filling a record number of openings as the economy powers up.

Payrolls increased by 559,000 last month after a revised 278,000 gain in April, according to a Labor Department report Friday.

While this figure was a touch below the 650,000 expected, it still indicates robust growth while not exerting excessive pressure on the Federal Reserve to rein in its