Baker Hughes Reports Fifth-straight Weekly Climb In U.S. Oil-rig Count

Oil futures continued their climb Friday even after data from Baker Hughes revealed a weekly rise in the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil--the fifth increase in a row. The active U.S. oil-rig count rose 3 to 374 as of Friday. Last week, the data showed a rise of 14 oil rigs--the largest increase of the year so far. The total U.S. rig count climbed by 1 to 463 in the latest week, according to Baker Hughes. September crude was at $41.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 23 cents, or 0.6%, from Thursday's settlement. It traded at $41.27 before the data.