Crude oil prices are modestly higher Friday morning with investors looking ahead to the crucial monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls data.
Crude oil futures for June delivery are up $0.40 or 0.4 percent at $99.82 a barrel, after having advanced to $100.08 a barrel earlier.
On Thursday, crude futures ended down $0.32 or 0.3 percent at $99.42 a barrel, after declining to a low of $98.74 a barrel intraday, following a notable surge in U.S. crude stockpiles and on concerns about demand growth.
Meanwhile, natural gas for June is up $0.037 or 0.78 percent at $4.757 per million btu.
The U.S. Labor Department will release its non-farm payrolls report for April at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect the economy to have added 215,000 jobs in April, while the jobless rate is expected to tick down to 6.6 percent.
The Commerce Department's report on factory orders for March will be out at 10 am ET. The consensus estimate calls for a 1.4 percent month-over-month increase in factory orders.
