By Laura Mandaro and Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Oil futures fluctuated between small gains and losses Thursday after a surprise rise in weekly U.S. jobless claims, but found some strength in a lower dollar and spillover positive sentiment after the prior session’s rally.
Crude for January delivery CL2F +0.11% advanced 35 cents, or 0.4%, to $100.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It had traded higher for parts of Asian and European electronic trading, but retreated just ahead of the New York floor open.
The Labor Department said weekly jobless claims rose last week by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 402,000, worse than expectations of 393,000. Claims in the prior week were revised up to 396,000. Read more on jobless claims.
At 10 a.m. Eastern, oil traders get a report from the Institute for Supply Management on November manufacturing. Similar reports from other nations have “been generally week,” noted analysts at Citigroup.
“It appears that Europe’s manufacturing sector, and probably the entire economy, is mired in the middle of a contractionary quarter, while Asia’s is apparently following suit,” they wrote.
Oil’s earlier rise tracked a sharp rally in Asian stocks as investors welcomed coordinated moves by global central banks to ease credit costs in Europe, as well as monetary easing in China. Read more about Asia markets.
The positive sentiment remained intact despite data showing Chinese manufacturing activity slowed in November. Read more on China’s PMI.
“The strong market reaction to economic and policy news highlights the volatility that seems baked into the ‘risk on and risk off’ market,” strategists at Barclays Capital said.
On the supply side, U.S oil inventories released by the Energy Information Administration exceeded analysts expectations for the week ended Nov. 25, with the data capping gains for crude during Wednesday’s North American session. Read more on Wednesday's oil session.
