Showing posts with label Oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oil. Show all posts
Monday, June 21, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Oil maintains momentum to rise to near $82
Oil maintains momentum to rise to near $82
Mar 8, 7:37 AM (ET)
By PABLO GORONDI
Oil prices headed higher toward $82 a barrel Monday, extending gains from last week amid signs the global economy may be improving.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for April delivery was up 43 cents to $81.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, it peaked at $82.41. The contract rose $1.29 to settle at $81.50 on Friday.
Investors were cheered by the Labor Department's February jobs report Friday, which showed the U.S. economy shed a less-than-expected 36,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 1.2 percent Friday, and while most major Asian indexes rose Monday, European bourses were mostly lower.
Crude investors also took heart from news Friday that China plans to extend a stimulus package in hopes of helping the economy grow 8 percent this year.
Oil has soared 18 percent since Feb. 5 as investors become more convinced a growing global economy will boost crude demand.
Some analysts, however, said that the current rise in prices was driven by technical factors such as investors' positions in the market, not a real rise in oil consumption.
"Commodity markets often go through periods of 'disconnect' between fundamentals and the underlying technicals, and the energy markets ... are going through one of those phases right now," said Edward Meir of MF Global in New York. "We very well could retest the 2010 highs of $83.95. However, our belief is that should we get there, a rather substantial correction will set in, sending prices back into the mid-to high $70 range."
The dollar's exchange rate is often seen moving oil prices, with a weaker dollar making crude cheaper for investors holding other currencies and vice versa.
On Monday, the euro rose to $1.3652 from the $1.3624 late Friday in New York.
In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil rose 0.83 cent to $2.1057 a gallon, and gasoline gained 0.78 cent to $2.2788 a gallon. Natural gas was down 8.4 cents at $4.509 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude was up 58 cents at $80.47 on the ICE futures exchange.
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Associated Press writer Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Oil rises to near $81 ahead of key US jobs report
Oil rises to near $81 ahead of key US jobs report
By ALEX KENNEDY
SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil prices rose to near $81 a barrel Friday in Asia as crude traders followed equity markets higher ahead of a key U.S. jobs report.
Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 48 cents to $80.69 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 66 cents to settle at $80.21 on Thursday.
U.S. stock markets rose Thursday on investor optimism that the February unemployment rate, scheduled to be released by the Labor Department later Friday, will show the economy is recovering. The jobless rate in January was 9.7 percent.
Most major Asian stock markets rose on Friday, and crude traders often look to equities as a measure of overall investor sentiment.
"Bullish surprises within the payrolls data could easily ignite a broad based rally" in stocks and commodities, Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report.
In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil rose 0.59 cent to $2.0746 a gallon, and gasoline gained 0.96 cents to $2.2433 a gallon. Natural gas was down 0.9 cent at $4.566 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude was up 50 cents at $79.04 on the ICE futures exchange.
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