Crude Oil Prices Show Strong Move Back To The Upside

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply lower over the two previous sessions, the price of crude oil showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Friday.

Crude for December delivery jumped $2.46 or 3.1 percent to $81.27 a barrel after plummeting $3.05 or 3.6 percent on Wednesday and tumbling another $2.05 or 2.5 percent on Thursday.

The rebound by the price of crude oil came as traders continued to digest news that OPEC and its allies decided on Thursday to stick with a plan to raise oil output modestly and gradually.

Oil prices may also have benefited from upbeat U.S. jobs data, which may had generated optimism about the outlook for demand.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment surged up by 531,000 jobs in October after climbing by an upwardly revised 312,000 jobs in September.

Economists had expected employment to jump by 425,000 jobs compared to the addition of 194,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

With employment increasing by more than expected, the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent in October from 4.8 percent in September, hitting its lowest level since March of 2020. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 4.7 percent.

The Labor Department described the job growth as widespread, with notable job gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing.