Crude Oil Prices Move Lower as Optimism Fades

Investing.com – Crude oil prices moved lower on Monday, as optimism linked to news of a decline in U.S. drilling rigs and upbeat U.S. jobs data began to fade and traders turned their attention to this week’s supply reports.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate April contract was down 20 cents or about 0.32% at $61.84 a barrel by 03:35 a.m. ET (07:35 GMT).

Elsewhere, for May delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London declined 32 cents or about 0.49% to $65.17 a barrel.

Oil prices were boosted after Baker Hughes energy services firm said on Friday that the number of active U.S. oil rigs declined by four last week to . It was the first decline in seven weeks.

The commodity also received support after the Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. economy added last month, beating economists’ forecasts of 200,000. It was the largest monthly increase in one-and-a-half years.

Traders hope more job creation will boost fuel demand.

Meanwhile, investors were still cautious regaring a potential global trade war, even as the White House said late last week that key U.S. trading partners Canada and Mexico would be exempt from its highly criticized tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Market participants were now looking ahead to the American Petroleum Institute’s weekly report on U.S. oil supplies due on Tuesday. The next day, the U.S. Energy Information Agency will release official data on oil and gasoline stockpiles.

Fears that rising U.S. output could dampen global efforts to rid the market of excess supplies persist.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), along with some non-OPEC members led by Russia, agreed in December to extend oil output cuts until the end of 2018.

Elsewhere, dropped 0.53% to $1.890 a gallon, while were up 0.11% to $2.735 per million British thermal units.

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