Oil prices pull back from $50 after U.S. labor figure release

NEW YORK, June 3 (UPI) -- The price of crude bounced back below the $50 mark Friday after the latest figures from the U.S. Labor Department suggested growth may have peaked.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the total unemployment rate declined 0.3 percentage points to 4.7 percent in May. The number of people without a job declined by 484,000 to 7.4 million, data show.

"Both measures had shown little movement from August to April," the department said in its Friday report.

Those people in the United States working only part-time, meanwhile, increased by 468,000, after showing little to no movement since November. The level for part-time employment in May was its highest level since August. Wages, meanwhile, increased 5 cents in May for an average of $25.59 per hour, compared with a 9 cent increase in April.

Stagnant wage growth comes as fuel prices rise along with crude oil. Retail gasoline prices in the United States are up 5 percent from last month.

Crude oil prices had drifted around the $50 mark in overnight trading before sinking after the release of the latest U.S. employment figures. The price for Brent crude oil moved lower by 0.9 percent to start trading at $49.60 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark price for oil, was off 1 percent from the previous close to open at $48.64 per barrel.

Data released Thursday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed gasoline consumption was moving higher in the United States, indicating demand was catching up with supply. Traders early Thursday reacted negatively when members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries walked away from meetings in Vienna with little in the way of a production agreement.

Some OPEC members in early 2016 had considered a production freeze to erase the glut of oil on the market. OPEC in a statement after the conclusion of Thursday's meeting said the market was returning to a palpable balance between supply and demand.

Supply-side pressures like outages in oil-rich Alberta had pushed the price of oil higher in recent weeks. The latest update on fires in the region of Fort McMurray from the provincial government said the situation remains "out of control," though fires are now about 50 percent contained.

Canadian wildfires had curtailed about 1 million barrels per day in production.