As of the close, NYMEX September light sweet crude futures rose $0.89 to $78.18/bbl, up 1.15%. ICE Brent October futures rose $1.06 to $83.55/bbl, up 1.29%.

WSJ’s Nick Timiraos says July’s US jobs report will be hard to interpret. Evidence that the labour market has not re-accelerated could reduce urgency for a next-month hike, but outcomes hinge on fresher inflation data. A drop in unemployment will keep markets focused on price trends; whether price pressures rise or fall will determine if more officials conclude they cannot meet the inflation target with rates left unchanged. Two months of milder inflation would strengthen the case to hold rates as a trend signal rather than noise; stronger inflation would revive hawkish forecasts and could give officials favoring further tightening a path to secure a pivotal fourth vote.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday. The Dow rose 0.28%, the S&P 500 gained 0.60% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.30%. SpaceX jumped 15.8%; Qualcomm rose 4.6% and NVIDIA gained 2.2%. Memory/storage names mostly fell: SK Hynix declined nearly 4% and Micron slipped 0.4%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index gained 0.7%.