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Crude oil extended its rally on Thursday on light volume ahead of the holiday weekend. A weaker dollar added to oil's hedge value and helped add to yesterday's inventory-backed gains.
Light sweet crude for February delivery settled at $78.05 per barrel, up $1.38 on the session. Prices touched as high as $78.25 after earlier hitting as low as $76.19. For the week, oil added $3.63.
The dollar declined away from an eight-day low against the euro, backing further away from a 3 1/2-month high. The greenback recovered early losses and remain in a range near a two-month high against the pound.
In economic news, a Labor Department report showed that initial jobless claims for the week fell to 452,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 480,000. Economists had been expecting a more modest decrease in jobless claims to about 470,000.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported durable goods orders edged up by 0.2 percent in November following an unrevised 0.6 percent decrease in October. Economists had been expecting a somewhat more substantial increase in orders of about 0.5 percent.
Oil soared $2.27 per ounce on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported inventories fell more than expected last week. Crude oil inventories decreased by 4.9 million barrels in the week ended December 18. Experts were looking for a drop of 2 million barrels.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 900,000 barrels last week, distillates decreased by 3.1 million barrels and propane/propylene inventories decreased by 3.4 million barrels.
On Thursday, the Energy Information Administration reported natural gas inventories fell 166 billion cubic feet to 3.4 trillion cubic feet in the week ended December 18.
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