MW: Oil futures hold above $80 a barrel ahead of jobs data
The Labor Department is due to report data on nonfarm payrolls for February
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures traded above $80 a barrel on Friday ahead of the eagerly awaited report on U.S. nonfarm payrolls for February.
Crude oil for April delivery rose 45 cents to $80.66 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The contract earlier hit an intraday high of $80.84 a barrel.
The Labor Department will release data on nonfarm payrolls at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect payrolls to have dropped by a seasonally adjusted 90,000 in February, partly because of heavy snow storms that hit the eastern half of the nation last month. The unemployment rate likely ticked up to 9.8%.
"Should the dollar weaken after the numbers are released, as we think it might, we suspect energy-chart patterns are still constructive enough to allow oil prices to work a little higher before a more major correction sets in," said Edward Meir, senior commodity analyst at MF Global.
Dollar weakness typically boosts dollar-denominated commodities such as oil.
The dollar index (DXY 80.55, -0.02, -0.02%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, was little changed at 80.575 in recent trading.
Oil prices finished slightly lower on Friday, while natural-gas futures dropped nearly 4% after the government reported supplies fell less than expect last week.
