By Laura Mandaro and Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures sped past $98 a barrel Thursday, boosted by two surprisingly strong reports on U.S. jobs that may signal stronger energy demand in the coming months.
Crude for August delivery CL1Q +1.65% added $1.80, or 1.9%, to $98.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Ahead of the U.S. stock open, Automatic Data Processing said private-sector employment rose 157,000 in June, well ahead of expectations for a 70,000 gain. Also, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped in the latest week. The ADP report improved the outlook for Friday’s government report on U.S. jobs growth.
Oil futures Thursday built on gains booked in Asian and European trading after an industry trade group reported a drop in crude-oil stockpiles.
The American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday said crude-oil stockpiles fell by 3.2 million barrels for the week ended July 1, while gasoline inventories slid 1.9 million barrels and distillates dropped 1.6 million barrels.
Coming up, the Energy Information Administration will report weekly inventories for natural gas -- and then 30 minutes later, its report on oil inventories. The oil data are a day later due to Monday’s Independence Day holiday.
Analysts polled by Platts forecast a fall in crude inventories of 2.5 million barrels for the week ended July 1, with a rise in gasoline inventories by 500,000 barrels and distillates inventories rising by 1.1 million barrels.
Natural gas storage is expected to increase by between 78 billion cubic feet and 82 billion cubic feet, according to Platts.
