Oil prices fell Friday, as the dollar strengthened off the back of a strong July jobs report. Prices briefly broke into positive territory after the U.S. Labor Department said Friday morning that nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 255,000 last month —far higher than economists’ expectations. “If the job situation continues to improve, it is supportive also of oil demand in the U.S.,” said Olivier Jakob, an analyst from Swiss-based research firm Petromatrix. But as the dollar strengthened—with the WSJ Dollar Index rising as much as 0.5%—oil pared its initial gains. A stronger U.S. currency makes dollar-traded oil more expensive for foreign buyers, which tends to send prices lower. “I’m surprised by the resilience of crude in the face of the strengthening dollar,” said Chris Kettenmann, chief energy strategist at Macro Risk Advisors. Light, sweet crude for September delivery settled down 13 cents, or 0.31%, at $41.80 a […]