BLBG: Crude futures edge past $73; U.S. inventories data on tap
By Claudia Assis & Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. crude-oil futures edged higher Thursday, as traders clinged to good news on the macroeconomic front ahead of data expected to show a decrease in oil inventories.
Crude for July delivery, the most active contract, rose 61 cents, or 0.8%, to $73.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Prices had seesawed earlier on, but a positive read on jobless claims, coupled with expectations of a draw in crude inventories, tipped the balance for gains, said Tony Rosado, a broker with GA Global Markets in New York.
"The statistics moved financial markets, and we are a financial market these days, not based on fundamentals," he said.
The Labor Department said initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 10,000 to 453,000 in the week ended May 29. Most economists had predicted a decline by 5,000.
Separately, private payrolls gained estimated 55,000 jobs last month, lower than the number in many forecasts. See more on the ADP payrolls data for May.
The government also revised downward first-quarter U.S. productivity to a 2.8% growth rate from the 3.6% previously estimated.
The contract had climbed as high as $74.41 a barrel after the API reported late Wednesday that commercial crude stockpiles declined by 1.4 million barrels in the week ended May 28.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its own data on petroleum inventories later Thursday, a day later than normal due to the Memorial Day holiday.
Analysts polled by Platts expect crude stockpiles to decline 1 million barrels. Gasoline stocks are expected to increase 750,000 barrels, while distillates stocks are estimated to increase by 950,000 barrels.
The American Petroleum Institute, a Washington-based trade group, reported late Wednesday a deeper than expected decline in oil stockpiles in the week ended May 28.
Crude-oil stockpiles declined 1.4 million barrels, the API reported. Gasoline inventories declined by 962,000 barrels, it said. Stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, increased by 852,000 barrels.
The DOE's Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its data on natural gas in storage on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
