WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil futures settled flat on Friday with amid concerns the Federal Reserve will likely hold interest rates higher for longer as data showed a much stronger than expected growth in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in the month of May.
Concerns about possible excess supply in the market weighed on oil prices.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended at $75.53 a barrel, down $0.02% from the previous close. WTI crude futures shed about 2% in the week, recording a third weekly loss.
Brent crude futures were down $0.51 or 0.63% at $79.36 a barrel a little while ago.
After Bank of Canada and the European Central Bank cut interest rates earlier this week, investors widely expected a similar move by the Federal Reserve sometime soon. However, the data from the Labor Department today has dashed the expectations.
The data said non-farm payroll employment surged by 272,000 jobs in May after climbing by a downwardly revised 165,000 jobs in April. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 185,000 jobs compared to the addition of 175,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The report also showed the annual rate of growth by average hourly employee earnings accelerated to 4.1% in May from 4% in April.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate crept up to 4% in May from 3.9% in April.
The decision of OPEC+ to phase out voluntary production cuts over the course of 12 months starting in October, weighed on oil prices.
However, oil's downside was just marginal as Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman reportedly said at a Russian business conference that OPEC+ can delay or reverse planned supply additions depending on market conditions.
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