On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at USD96.26 a barrel on Monday, down 0.17%, off from a session high of USD96.31 and up from an earlier session low of USD96.25.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that the U.S. economy created a net 96,000 nonfarm payrolls in August, well below market calls for 125,000 jobs.
The weak jobs numbers fueled already growing sentiment that the Federal Reserve will roll out a third round of quantitative easing at its Sept. 12-13 monetary policy meeting.
Under quantitative easing, the Fed buys assets such as Treasury holdings or mortgage-backed securities held by banks, pumping the economy full of fresh liquidity in a way that pushes down interest rates to encourage investing and hiring.
Such accommodative policies tend to weaken the dollar by design and send commodities prices rising, especially oil, which shoots up on hopes for sustained demand that comes from a jolted economy and also due to a weaker dollar, which makes the commodity a nicely-priced asset in the eyes of investors holding other currencies.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics added that July's figures were revised down to 141,000 from 163,000, while June's figures were revised down to 45,000 from 64,000, further stoking market calls for Fed intervention.
The unemployment rate stood at 8.1% in August, down from 8.3% in September as more jobless worked exited the labor force.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Bloomberg Radio earlier that Washington had not established any deadlines in its efforts to stop Iran from developing its nuclear program, which calmed investors' concerns that armed conflict between Iran and the West and Israel was brewing.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for October delivery were down 0.34% and trading at USD113.64 a barrel, up USD17.38 from its U.S. counterpart.
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