US job openings remain relatively unchanged in October; Crude oil inventories post 2.4M barrel drop last week

The number of job openings was little changed in October, official figures revealed on Wednesday. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' JOLTS survey, employers advertised 5.53 million openings, a rate of 3.7%, in the reported month, in line with analysts' expectations. Meanwhile, the September figure was revised up to 5.63 million from the originally reported 5.49 million openings. Hiring dropped to 5.1 million, whereas the number of separations decreased to 3 million. However, the data suggest that hiring is unlikely to rise in the upcoming months. The biggest declined in job openings occurred in professional and business services, which includes accountants and engineers as well as temp workers. The number of job vacancies advanced 2% over the past year, while hiring decreased 2.2%, suggesting that employers face difficulties in finding skilled workers. The following gap and low unemployment rate may force businesses to raise pay to attract workers. Other data released on the same day by the EIA showed crude oil inventories fell 2.4 million barrels in the week ending December 2, whereas analysts expected a fall of 1.4 million barrels, following the preceding week's declined of 0.9 million. After the release, WTI futures fell 1.4% to $50.20, while Brent crude declined 1% to $53.38.