NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices rose toward $72 a barrel Monday on a weaker dollar, recovering from last week's losses.
What prices are doing: Crude oil for March delivery climbed 70 cents to settle at $71.89 a barrel Monday.
Oil fell 4% last week as investors worried about growing debt in Greece and Spain and after a government report showed a surprise build in supplies.
What's driving prices: With no major economic data being released on Monday, oil was moving in the opposite direction of the dollar, said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at PFG Best. A weaker greenback tends to support prices for oil, because commodities are priced in dollars around the world.
"The market is flip-flopping, [as] oil is really taking its cue from what's happening in outside markets today," said Flynn.
The dollar index was down slightly in late trading and stocks slipped Monday afternoon.
Last week, the Labor Department said 20,000 jobs were lost in January even though the unemployment rate fell to 9.7% from 10% in December.
Economists had forecast an increase of 15,000 jobs in January and expected the unemployment rate to remain steady at 10%.
What analysts are saying: Because of continued concern about building debt in eurozone countries, Flynn expects investors to flock to the dollar as a safe haven, putting pressure on oil prices.
"Oil has been propped up because of the economic stimulus, but the situation in Europe shows how tenuous the build-up in oil has been," he said. "If the dollar starts to get strong, oil prices could get substantially lower over the next few months."
Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
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30 yr fixed | 3.80% | 3.88% | |
15 yr fixed | 3.20% | 3.23% | |
5/1 ARM | 3.84% | 3.88% | |
30 yr refi | 3.82% | 3.93% | |
15 yr refi | 3.20% | 3.23% |
Today's featured rates:
Index | Last | Change | % Change |
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Dow | 32,627.97 | -234.33 | -0.71% |
Nasdaq | 13,215.24 | 99.07 | 0.76% |
S&P 500 | 3,913.10 | -2.36 | -0.06% |
Treasuries | 1.73 | 0.00 | 0.12% |
Company | Price | Change | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Ford Motor Co | 8.29 | 0.05 | 0.61% |
Advanced Micro Devic... | 54.59 | 0.70 | 1.30% |
Cisco Systems Inc | 47.49 | -2.44 | -4.89% |
General Electric Co | 13.00 | -0.16 | -1.22% |
Kraft Heinz Co | 27.84 | -2.20 | -7.32% |
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