Market Close: Oct 2 Down
Oct 2nd, 2014 by loren
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New York-traded crude-oil futures rebounded slightly Thursday. But London’s Brent—viewed as the world’s benchmark—settled at its lowest since June 2012 as Saudi Arabian price cuts continued to spook investors.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in November rose 28 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $91.01 a barrel. New York-traded oil fell below $90 a barrel earlier in the session. U.S. oil futures have tended not fall as much due to healthier demand in the U.S., where economic data have been largely positive. That dynamic often insulates U.S. prices from negative headlines and weak global data points. November Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 74 cents, or 0.8%, to $93.42 a barrel–the lowest settlement for a Brent front-month contract since June 28, 2012. Brent was under pressure after Saudi Aramco. Saudi Arabia’s national petroleum company, on Wednesday cut its official selling price for crude oil to the U.S., Europe and Asia, with the largest cuts in Asia. That has stoked fears the Saudis would let prices fall further before slowing down its production to clear excess supplies and ease price declines. “We believe that a far more important reason for the ongoing downward trend is the absence of any supply response from OPEC,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note Thursday.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, gasoline for November delivery fell 4 cents, or 1.7%, to settle at $2.4091 a gallon. That was the lowest settlement price for a gasoline front-month contract since January 2011. Heating oil for November lost nearly 2 cents, or 0.7%, to end at $2.6380 a gallon, the lowest settlement since June 2012.