Oil settles with a minor gain, up 2.5% on week
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Oil futures finished with a slight gain Friday, finding support from a hefty drop in last week’s U.S. crude supplies. February crude oil rose 17 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at .09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. “Crude has mustered a minor gain as the nonfarm payroll report helped to pare strength seen in the U.S. dollar,” said Matt Smith, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric. And “a huge draw in the oil inventory report — although due to end-of-year tax considerations — helped to bring oil prices back into minorly positive territory.”
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