The price of crude oil was ticking higher Friday morning as traders await cues from the all-important jobs data, due out later today. Prices were supported by data from China that revealed services sector expanded at a steady pace in January.
The HSBC China Services PMI was firm at 52.5 for a third month in January, signaling steady but sluggish expansion.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for March delivery, edged up $0.23 to $96.59 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended lower for a fifth session mostly impacted on demand concerns after U.S. oil stockpiles increased more than expected last week, even as the dollar continues to fluctuate against a basket of major currencies.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was lingering near its weekly low versus the euro and extending its 2-month low against sterling. The buck was lingering around its 3-month low versus the yen and ticking lower against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, euro zone retail sales fell 0.4 percent month-on month in December, Eurostat reported. Economists were expecting turnover to expand 0.3 percent. In 2011, the average volume of retail trade index fell by 0.6 percent. On a yearly basis, retail sales decreased 1.6 percent in December, following November's revised 1.5 percent drop. The decline also exceeded the 1.3 percent fall expected by economists.
Traders will look to the non-farm payroll reports from the U.S. Labor Department, due out at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists expect non-farm payrolls for January to increase by 135,000, while expect the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 8.5 percent.
Later during the session, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release the results of its non-manufacturing survey. The non-manufacturing index is likely to show a reading of 53.3 for January after rising to 52.6 in December.
Additionally, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on factory goods orders for December. Economists estimate a 1.5 percent increase in orders for factory goods after durable goods orders rose a better than expected 3 percent in the month.
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