Economic data and weak dollar push up prices
Crude oil ended higher at Nymex on Friday, 30 April 2010.
Economic data and weak dollar pushed up prices and the same ended above
the $85 mark for the second straight day.
On Friday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for June
delivery closed at $86.15/barrel (higher by $0.98 or 1.15%). A day
earlier, prices crossed $85 mark, for the first time in a week. For the
week, crude ended higher by 1.2%. For the month of April, crude rose
2.8%.
For the first quarter of this year, crude rose by 5.5%. Year to
date, crude is higher by 8.3%.
Prices are still very much lower as compared to 3 July, 2008
settlement of $145.29 a barrel and an intraday high of $147.27 on 11
July, 2008, an all-time high. However, oil has also gained nearly 155%
from a December 2008 nadir. That day prices settled at $33.87 a barrel
following an intraday low of $32.40.
In the currency market on Friday, the dollar index, which
measures the strength of the dollar against basket of six other
currencies initially fell by 0.3%. The dollar still finished the week
with a 0.6% gain, which puts it up 0.5% for the month and up some 5%
for the year.
Stiff selling at Wall Street on Friday resulted in the stock
market's worst weekly loss since January and marked a weak finish to
April. Still, the stock market was able to book its third straight
monthly gain. The early tone of trade was tepid as market participants
made little response to news that the first quarter GDP hit an
annualized rate of 3.2%. The headline number was essentially on par
with the 3.3% increase that had been widely expected.
Separately, the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer
sentiment index showed that U.S. consumer sentiment improved marginally
in late April after sinking earlier in the month. The index rose to
72.2 from 69.5 in mid-April. Market had expected an increase to about
71.
March's final reading was 73.6. The index has been largely
unchanged since November, remaining at depressed levels.
Earlier during the week, in the latest weekly inventory
report, the Energy Department reported an increase of 1.96 million
barrels in the U.S. oil inventories in the week ended 23 April. Market
had expected a rise of 1.4 million barrels. Refineries ran at 89% of
their capacity, higher than expected. Crude stocks in Cushing, Okla.,
the delivery point for New York Mercantile Exchange oil, increased by
nearly half a million barrels.
The report also showed that gasoline stocks declined by 1.24
million barrels; against an expected build of 500,000 barrels. Stocks
of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, were up by 2.93
million barrels when the expectation was of an increase of 1.2 million
barrels.
On Friday, natural gas extended its slide from the prior
session. The steady selling pressure sent contract prices 1.7% lower to
$3.91 per MMBtu. Natural-gas futures dropped more than 8% on Thursday
as government reports showed an increase in weekly inventories as well
as February output.
Crude ended FY 2009 higher by 78%, the highest yearly gain
since 1999. It reached a high of $82 earlier in October 2009 and hit a
low of $33.98 on 12 February 2009. Crude prices had ended FY 2008 lower
by 54%, the largest yearly loss since trading began at Nymex.
