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Oil, Other Commodity Prices Recover


Traders work the crude oil options pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange, May 6, 2011.
Traders work the crude oil options pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange, May 6, 2011.

Prices for oil and other commodities rebounded Friday after an upbeat report on U.S. employment.

Friday's data on the net number of jobs created in the U.S. economy was much better than most economists had predicted.

Shortly after the jobs report, oil prices stopped a steep slide that began Thursday when earlier reports made investors think the U.S. economic recovery might slow or stall, cutting demand for energy and raw materials.

Before Friday's unemployment report, oil prices were down more than $5 a barrel. After the report, those losses eased to around 20 cents a barrel. Friday also saw gold, silver, and coffee prices recover some of the ground lost earlier in the week.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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