Crude Levels-off From 8-month Low

(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was steady near its eight month low Friday morning with the US dollar trading firm ahead of today's jobs data.

Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for February delivery, gained $0.97 to $92.63 a barrel. Yesterday, oil dropped for a second straight session ahead of the monthly non-farm payrolls data with investors continuing to weigh the prospects of increased oil supply from Libya. The North African country is expected to lift its oil production and export to normal, stoking fears of oversupply even as traders mulled over the latest supply data from the U.S. indicating huge stockpiles of distillates and gasoline.

This morning the U.S. dollar was hovering near its one-month high versus the euro and the Swiss franc, while paring recent losses against sterling and ticking higher against the yen.

In economic news from the euro zone, Switzerland's consumer prices increased for the second consecutive month in December, the Federal Statistical Office said. Consumer prices gained 0.1 percent year-on-year in December as seen in November. The consumer price index showed a positive change in November for the first time in more than two years.

Elsewhere, the U.K.'s industrial production remained unchanged in November compared with the previous month, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. The weaker-than-expected outcome followed two successive months of improvement. Output increased by a revised 0.3 percent in October and 0.9 percent in September. Economists had forecast a 0.4 percent increase in November.

Traders will look to the jobs data from the U.S. Labor Department due out at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists expect non-farm payrolls to have expanded by 200,000 in the month, while the unemployment rate may have remained unchanged at 7 percent.

Later during the session, the Commerce Department will release its wholesale inventories report for November. The consensus estimates call for a 0.5 percent month-over-month increase in wholesale inventories.