Oil prices rose on Friday, bouncing up $3 in a slight rebound from a 10 percent crash the previous session.

Thursday's drop was the second biggest on record for Brent, with prices down as much as $12 at one point, and down more than $10 at the close for one of the biggest daily drops ever.

Concerns about weak economic data from the United States and Europe and the impact of high prices on fuel demand knocked $15 off Brent prices in the first four days of the week. By Friday, some traders were sidelined, with others pointing to U.S. employment data as a bullish sign.

I think it's just a little reaction to the way oversold conditions we got into yesterday, it was quite a bloodbath, Mike Zarembski, senior commodities analyst for optionsXpress in Chicago.

Traders are still a bit shellshocked from yesterday.

Brent crude traded up $2.96 to $113.76 a barrel at 11.03 a.m. EDT, rebounding after shedding $5 in the early hours of trade before the U.S. open.

U.S. crude futures gained $2.11 to trade at $101.91 a barrel, after dipping as low as $95.25 a barrel earlier in the session.

Data from the Labor Department showed U.S. private employers added jobs at the fastest pace in five years in April, pointing to underlying strength in the economy, even as the jobless rate rose to 9.0 percent.

(Reporting by Gene Ramos, Robert Gibbons, Matthew Robinson in New York; Jessica Donati-Bourne in London and Francis Kan in Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio)