Crude oil rose to the highest level since November after a report showed that the US cut fewer jobs than forecast last month, a signal that the worst of the recession has passed and fuel demand may rebound.
Oil prices gained 10 percent this week as reports on US home sales and manufacturing in China boosted optimism about the economy and after US crude-oil supplies climbed less than forecast. US payrolls fell by 539,000, after a 699,000 loss in March, the US Labor Department said on Friday in Washington. A loss of 600,000 jobs was forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
“Clearly, the better-than-expected jobs number supports the recent rally that’s been based on early signs of an economic recovery,” said John Kilduff, senior vice president of energy at MF Global Inc in New York. “There is a natural skepticism that comes with this rally because the fundamentals of the oil market are so poor.”
Crude oil for June delivery rose US$1.92, or 3.4 percent, to US$58.63 a barrel at 2:59pm on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since Nov. 11. Futures had the largest weekly gain since the week ended March 20.
Gasoline for June delivery climbed US$0.04, or 2.4 percent, to end the session at US$1.7055 a gallon (US$0.4505 per liter) in New York, the highest since Oct. 20.
Equities increased after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said results of the government’s review of the banking industry’s health “should provide considerable comfort.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 2.4 percent to a four-month high of 929.23, capping its eighth weekly advance out of the past nine.
US crude supplies rose 605,000 barrels to 375.3 million last week, the highest since 1990, a US Energy Department report on Wednesday showed. A 2.5 million-barrel increase was forecast by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Brent crude oil for June settlement rose US$1.67, or 3 percent, to end the session at US$58.14 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange, the highest since Nov. 10.
Crude oil volume in electronic trading on the NYMEX was 468,313 contracts as of 3:10pm on Friday in New York. Volume totaled 738,367 contracts on Thursday, 38 percent higher than the average over the past three months. Open interest was 1.2 million contracts. The exchange has a one-business-day delay in reporting open interest and full volume data.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS