Brent, WTI Crude Futures Rise Nearly $2

Oil prices rose nearly $2 on Friday, rebounding from two days of declines as Wall Street climbed on strong US jobs data, while investors also grew hopeful that a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un could ease geopolitical tensions.

Brent crude futures rose $1.88 to settle at $65.49 a barrel, a 2.96% gain. Brent traded between $63.69 and $65.63 during the session, CNBC reported.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $1.92 to settle at $62.04 a barrel, a 3.19% gain. US crude traded between $60.14 and $62.14.

Oil prices extended gains in post-settlement trade, with both benchmarks rising by more than $2. Both Brent and US crude notched weekly percentage gains after weekly percentage losses last week.

Wall Street jumped after US payrolls data showed strong job additions in February. The S&P 500 index was last up about 1.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite index hit a record high on the day, further supporting oil prices.

Crude futures and stock indices have recently moved in tandem.

The jobs report “speaks to strong, underlying economic conditions, and growth, which includes increased energy demand,” said John Kilduff, partner at investment manager Again Capital in New York.

Also bullish for oil prices, Libya’s 70,000 barrels per day El Feel oilfield stayed shut despite the Petroleum Facilities Guard saying it had reached a deal to reopen it, according to a field engineer and local mediator.

US oil drillers cut four oil rigs in the week to March 9, bringing the total count down to 796, General Electric Company’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday.

“Sometimes you are going to have week-to-week variations which are going to be negative, but I wouldn’t take too much from any single week,” said Stewart Glickman, an energy equity analyst at CFRA Research in New York.

“The bigger thing is that the three-month average is definitely moving higher.”