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Market Close: June 18 Up

Fueling Strategy: Please keep tanks topped tonight, Friday AM wholesale prices will go UP 2.50 cents – Be Safe
NYMEX Gasoline     $  60.45 UP $.5300

NY Harbor ULSD      $1.9152 UP $.0054
NYMEX Gasoline     $2.1101 UP $.0096
NEWS

Oil futures climbed Thursday, with U.S. benchmark prices settling at their highest in a week, buoyed by a weaker U.S. dollar and a seventh straight week of falling U.S. crude inventories.

But analysts warned of “downside” risks to prices as global output remained strong. July crude tacked on 53 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $60.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest settlement for a most-active contract since June 11.

Brent crude for August delivery rose 39 cents, or 0.6%, to $64.26 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.

Oil has shown an inability to rally despite a falling U.S. dollar after the Federal Reserve meeting and a report showing a drop in crude inventories, said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets. Nymex prices seesawed between losses and gains early Thursday. After having rallied so much in recent months from the low $40s to the low $60s, “oil is looking tired here,” Cieszynski said. “It’s inability to capitalize on good news suggests that it may be getting fully priced near current levels.” The U.S. ICE dollar index fell after the Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday it will go slow with any interest-rate increases. As oil is priced in dollars, it becomes cheaper for holders of other currencies as the greenback weakens.

Data released Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed crude stockpiles fell by 2.7 million barrels last week, the seventh weekly decline in a row. Domestic production also fell, but stockpiles at the futures trading hub in Cushing, Okla., rose for the first time in five weeks and gasoline inventories climbed unexpectedly.

Risks for oil prices are “tilted to the downside,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “Global growth does not appear to be accelerating and global production remains strong with risks skewed to further upside” in production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. On a technical basis, Nymex oil is in a “stalemate,” said DTN senior analyst Darin Newsom, with prices “trapped between technical resistance levels” at $58.60 and $65.41, and support at the four-week low of $56.51. “The market remains overbought, meaning it looks to be running out of bullish momentum,” said Newsom.