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REFILE-Oil prices increase on US crude draw; jobs data feeds rate cut hopes

Oil futures got on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Info Administration (EIA) reported a draw on crude oil and data revealing a cooling tasks market that stoked hopes the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates quickly.

Brent unrefined futures settled at $85.71 a barrel, up 64 cents or 0.75%. The session high of $85.89 was the highest considering that May 1.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for July, which expire on Thursday, completed at $82.17 a barrel, up 60 cents, or 0.74%.

The market is definitely getting a bounce, said Phil Flynn, analyst with Price Futures Group.

Crude inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels in the week ending June 14 to 457.1 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with experts' expectations in a survey for a 2.2 million-barrel draw.

Stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, shipment center for U.S. unrefined futures increased by 307,000 barrels, the EIA said.

There was no WTI settlement on Wednesday since of a U.S. public vacation, which kept trading largely suppressed. The more active August contract was up 60 cents at $81.31.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell recently.

Labor market momentum has ebbed in tandem with the general economy as the Fed has actually tightened policy to combat inflation. With that pressure subsiding, a rate cut this year remains on the table.

Lower rates could support oil prices, which have actually been dragged this year by uninspired global demand. A U.S. rate cut would make borrowing less expensive on the planet's biggest economy, galvanizing the hunger for oil as production picks up.

Oil prices are likewise likely to remain supported by a growing geopolitical risk premium driven by dispute in the Middle East, stated ActivTrades analyst Ricardo Evangelista.

Israeli forces pounded locations in the central Gaza Strip overnight, while tanks deepened their advance into Rafah in the south.

However, expectations of an inventories develop seem eclipsing worries of escalating geopolitical stress in the meantime, stated Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market expert at Phillip Nova.

A summer season uptick in oil demand, refinery runs and continuous weather risks added to prolonged production cuts by the OPEC+. producer group indicate that oil balances ought to tighten up and. inventories should begin to draw during the summer season,. JPMorgan products experts wrote.

The Bank of England kept its main rates of interest the same at. a 16-year high of 5.25% ahead of Britain's nationwide election on. July 4.

(source: Reuters)