 |
For the first week of May of 2012, oil prices hovered around $105 per barrel. Throughout most of April, oil traded between $102 and $106 per gallon, as a strengthening U.S. economy was offset by slowed growth in Europe and Asia. Despite disappointing figures in European manufacturing in the 17 countries that use the Euro, employment rose to over ten percent. Manufacturing has slowed but crude oil prices continue to rise based on limited growth within American employment and manufacturing. Whether or not oil prices continue to rise or fall depends largely on the U.S. employment and job growth numbers for April. |
However, because U.S. manufacturing continues to expand and demand for crude is increasing, futures on oil rose from 53.4 in March to 54.8 in April, a .4 percent increase at a pace that was faster than predicted by the Institute of Supply Management. Although this shows a positive sign of a slowly strengthening U.S. economy, experts expect that growth to slow somewhat in the coming months, especially if the unemployment numbers in the U.S. continue to climb and manufacturing slows. Overall, crude oil prices rose 1.8 percent in April and are up 6.2 percent for 2012.
