WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices fell on Friday, pushing the most active futures contract to their biggest weekly decline in about three months, on weak U.S. jobs data, and concerns about the outlook for global oil demand.
Also, the possibility of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas eased concerns about any significant disruption in supplies.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down by $0.84 or about 1.06% at $78.11 a barrel.
Brent crude futures settled at $82.96 a barrel, down $0.71 or 0.85% from the previous close.
Data from the Labor Department showed non-farm payroll employment climbed by 175,000 jobs in April after surging by an upwardly revised 315,000 jobs in March. Economists had expected employment to jump by 243,000 jobs compared to the spike of 303,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The report also showed the unemployment rate crept up to 3.9% in April from 3.8% in March. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.
The annual rate of wage growth slowed to 4% in April from 4.1% in March, while economists had expected the pace of wage growth to dip to 4%.
Data showing a contraction in U.S. service sector activity hurt as well. The report from the Institute for Supply Management showed U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly contracted in the month of April, with ISM's Services PMI dipping to 49.4 in the month from 51.4 in March. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 52.0.
A report from Baker Hughes said the number of oil and natural gas rigs count fell to lowest since January 2022, falling by eight to 605 in the week to May 3. The drop was the steepest in about seven months. The oil rig count fell by seven to 499 in the week.
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