The price of crude oil was ticking lower Friday morning as traders focus on US jobs data for more cues on the strength in the recovery of the world's largest economy.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for April delivery, eased $0.20 to $91.36 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended higher on a weak dollar and some upbeat jobs data out of the U.S., with investor sentiments improving after ECB President Mario Draghi's comments over growth in the eurozone. Traders largely ignored an official report that showed a more-than-expected increase in U.S. oil stockpiles last week.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was ticking lower versus the euro and sterling, while extending its two-and- half year high versus the yen. The buck was edging down against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, Germany's industrial output remained flat in January from a month ago, when it was up 0.6 percent, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology said. Output was forecast to grow by 0.4 percent. On a yearly basis, industrial production slipped by working-day adjusted 1.3 percent, sharper than the 0.5 percent fall seen in the previous month. The rate of decrease slightly exceeded a 1.2 percent drop forecast by economists.
Traders will look to the unemployment data from the U.S. Labor Department due out at 8.30 a.m ET. Economists expect that the economy added 171,000 jobs in the month, faster than the 157,000 pace witnessed in January. The unemployment rate may have edged down to 7.8 percent.
The Commerce Department will release its wholesale inventories report for January at 10 a.m. ET. The consensus estimates call for a 0.4 percent increase in wholesale inventories compared to a 0.1 percent drop in the previous month.
