NEW YORK—Crude futures rose slightly, as a stronger-than-expected reading of the German economy, a refinery shutdown and a tropical storm all chipped in to build upward momentum.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery traded 73 cents, or 1%, higher at $75.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 62 cents, or 0.8%, higher at $78.73 a barrel.
Futures began a slow rise after Ifo's German business sentiment index reached 106.8 in September, up 0.1 from August. Economists had been expecting a slight drop.
The widely tracked research institute's index prompted the euro to strengthen against the dollar, making oil, priced in the U.S. currency, cheaper to purchase. The euro was recently at $1.3446 from $1.3286 earlier.
Germany's improving prospects also helped oil futures power through disappointing U.S. durable-goods data, with manufacturer orders dropping 1.3% in August. Strong economic growth is needed in the oil market to boost demand.
Although the dollar, along with the stock market, has played a major role in directing oil prices this year, the market has begun to pay closer attention to oil and fuel supplies, currently at a 27-year high in the U.S.
"We do seem to be adding a fundamental layer to this market," said Peter Beutel, president of the trading advisory firm Cameron Hanover. "They've been here all along ... it may be people now realize that the stock market and the euro are not going to have as big an influence as it seemed."
On Thursday, futures defied a stronger dollar and a decline in U.S. share prices to rise after ConocoPhillips said it had halted fuel production at its 238,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Linden, N.J. The shutdown, expected to last until early November, may begin to pressure gasoline supplies in the Northeast.
The impact of the refinery shutdown lingered into Friday's trading, as did Tropical Storm Matthew, which could set a course for the oil-producing region of the Gulf of Mexico next week.
Matthew is expected to come ashore on the coast of Belize early Sunday, but is then projected to turn north toward the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm will still be over the Yucatan Peninsula by the middle of next week, however.
Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently traded 1.80 cents, or 0.9%, higher at $1.9354 a gallon. October heating oil traded 0.54 cent, or 0.3%, higher at $2.1199 a gallon.
