NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil rebounded after slipping earlier in the session Friday as investors digested the government's latest labor report that showed employers slashed 85,000 jobs in December.
What prices are doing: Crude oil for February delivery rose 9 cents to settle at $82.75 a barrel after dipping as low as $81.80 earlier.
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Oil retreated from its 14-month high Thursday, snapping a 10-day streak of gains and settling at $82.66 a barrel.
What's moving prices: The Labor Department announced employers cut 85,000 jobs in December in its monthly jobs report. Economists expected no change in payrolls - no job losses or gains - during the month, according to a consensus estimate collected by Briefing.com.
The unemployment rate held steady at 10%, as economists expected.
What analysts are saying: The payroll data put downward pressure on oil prices earlier in the day, said energy economist Jim Williams, president of WTRG Economics.
"We have 4 million fewer people driving to work than we did a year ago," he said.
Williams said any kind of positive job growth could have boosted oil to a new 14-month high, even if it was statistically insignificant.
"We are so short on positive bids that if we get some, it would push oil up on the sentiment that the economy is going to get better," he said. "But a 10% unemployment rate and high crude inventories just argue for lower prices."
Gasoline prices: The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline increased to $2.725, up 1.6 cents from the previous day's price of $2.709, according to motorist group AAA. 
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