The price of oil rose, breaking the mark of $ 104 per barrel, after the better-than-expected growth in the number of jobs in the United States, which has raised the prospects of growth in demand. It is learned that in the past month, the level of employment payrolls, excluding s / z sector increased by 165 thousand compared to the value of the March 88 th and the forecast of 145 thousand Moreover, another report showed that last month the ISM non-manufacturing United States declined from 54.5 to 53.1, disappointing investors who had counted on record in the area 54.0. In March promzakazy in the U.S. fell by 4.0% vs. -2.6%. February's figure was revised up from -3.0% to -1.9%.

Also worth noting is that the rising cost of oil continues to support the decision of the European Central Bank to lower interest rates to record lows to stimulate investor appetite for riskier assets. Analysts said the positive outlook for employment in the United States may be more optimistic for the dollar than for oil.

But despite the positive data on the number of jobs, weak activity in the manufacturing sector in the United States and China are still undermines prospects for oil demand from the top two oil consumers.

The cost of the June futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose to 95.64 dollars per barrel.

June futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture rose $ 1.75 to $ 104.50 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.

Gold prices fell, dropping below the levels at this opening, despite the observed increase in the first half of the day. Note that this trend was caused by the publication of data on employment. According to the report, in April, employers added 165,000 jobs, compared with the figure for the previous month on the level of 138 thousand note that according to the average forecast of experts, the number of jobs was up by 140 thousand Meanwhile, it was revealed that the level of unemployment rate fell by 0.1% to 7.5% as more people find jobs. That was the lowest unemployment rate since December 2008. Note that this figure is forecast was to remain unchanged. The good news is that the figures for the previous two months were revised to a significant increase - in general, to 114,000 (138,000 jobs in March, compared with the 88 000 initially and 332 000 jobs in February, compared to 268,000 as previously reported). Revised data for February are the highest since May 2010. In addition, data released today showed that private companies added 176,000 jobs, accounting for all funds in April. Employment increased in professional and business services, restaurants and bars, retail and healthcare.

Economists say that the data on employment in Europe and the United States are likely to be scrutinized in the coming weeks to get clues about long-term prospects of the Fed's monetary stimulus.

Meanwhile, data released today showed that the stocks in the SPDR Gold Trust - the largest gold exchange-traded fund in the world, yesterday showed the biggest drop in one week, down by 0.56% to 1,069.22 tonnes - the lowest level since September 2009.

The cost of the June gold futures on COMEX today dropped to 1466.20 dollars an ounce.

Change % Change Last

GOLD 1,466.50 20.30 1.40%

OIL (WTI) 94.01 2.98 3.27%