West Texas Intermediate crude traded near the highest intraday price in three days amid signs that economic growth is being sustained in the U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest oil consumers. Brent also rose in London.

Futures climbed as much as 0.9 percent in New York. A Labor Department report showed U.S. employment exceeded the pre-recession peak for the first time, while China’s exports climbed in May. Russia and Ukraine plan another round of natural gas talks today, while OPEC ministers say they will probably leave their oil-production target unchanged this week.

“The good jobs data from the U.S. at the end of last week are supporting prices,” Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Jefferies Bache Ltd. in London, said by e-mail. “The key words this week will be Libya, Ukraine and OPEC.”

WTI for July delivery was at $103.52 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 86 cents, at 1:51 p.m. London time. The contract gained 18 cents to $102.66 on June 6. The volume of all futures traded was 7 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day. Prices have advanced 5.1 percent this year.

Brent for July settlement was 88 cents higher at $109.49 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $5.98 to WTI on ICE. The spread closed at $5.95 last week.

Gold is trading slightly higher after a volatile Friday session conducted. American statistics today did not come out and win back investors last week's events. Gold prices ended the week higher by 0.5% after Thursday they have received support from the ECB's decision to lower the prime lending rate. The ECB also lowered the rate on deposits to 0.1%, which is now the banks will pay for storage facilities at the ECB.

Gold prices typically increase during periods of loose monetary policy, as investors fear that such programs can reduce the cost of their capital or lead to inflation, often buy the precious metal as a hedge. Nevertheless, to a lesser extent gold has attracted investors in times of tighter monetary policy.

On Friday, gold prices fell after the U.S. Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy has increased in May, 217,000 jobs. Value was better than the forecast of economists, who had expected growth to 219,000.

Strong employment report pointed to continued economic recovery and confirmed investors' expectations that the Fed will turn your incentive program by the end of the year, freeing the way for rising interest rates.

"The Fed is not going to stop folding stimulus. Employment is growing, and the stock market goes up," - said Ira Epstein, director of the Ira Epstein division at Linn Group.

But the price of gold for some time fluctuated between growth and decline, then began to decline. This is an indication that the report was not strong enough to dictate the direction of the market, said Frank McGhee, the dealer Integrated Brokerage Services.

Some brokers also said that the continued improvement in the labor market increases the inflation expectations of some investors, causing them to turn to gold again.

"Next, we'll see after the employment growth - is wage growth, and a good sign for inflation," - says Adam Klopfenstayn, senior analyst Archer Financial Services.

The cost of the August gold futures on the COMEX today rose to $ 1257.3 per ounce.

Gold $1,252.50 -1.80 -0.14%

ICE Brent Crude Oil $108.61 -0.18 -0.17%

NYMEX Crude Oil $102.79 +0.30 +0.29%