MW: Crude holds better than 1% gain after jobs data
By Greg Morcroft
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Light sweet crude-oil futures held gains of more than 1% on Friday after the U.S. government reported a smaller than expected number of new jobs in January. Crude traded at $103.19, up 1.2% after the report, which said job growth accelerated in February and the unemployment rate fell for the third straight month. Total nonfarm payrolls increased by 192,000 in February. This was slightly lower than the 218,000 gain expected by Wall Street economists. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 8.9% in February from 9.0% in the previous month.
