MW: Oil bounces as dollar declines, U.S. stocks rise
Natural gas also trades positive, off 10-year lows
By Claudia Assis and V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures traded higher Friday as the dollar fell on an upbeat German economic survey and U.S. corporate news have boosted hopes for more oil demand.
Crude for delivery in May CLK2 +1.67% rose $1.80, or 1.8%, to $104.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract expires at the end of Friday.
Oil has settled in the red for two sessions in a row, mirroring the same action in U.S. equities.
“After a week of drifting lower, both (West Texas Intermediate) and Brent crude oil are trying to muster a rally into the weekend,” said Matt Smith, an analyst with Summit Energy, in a note to clients.
“A decent confidence number out of Germany has spurred on optimism in crude thus far, while a slew of earnings releases for corporations in the US is boosting general markets,” he added.
European stocks erased losses after Germany’s April Ifo index, which gauges business confidence in the euro-zone country, rose to 109.9 in April from 109.8 in March. That contrasted with expectations of a decline to 109.5.
The German data strengthened the euro, pressuring the dollar and providing another leg of support for oil and other commodities.
The ICE dollar index DXY -0.48% dropped to 79.275 from 79.563 in late North American trading Thursday.
Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.82% climbed 82 points, or 0.6%, to 13,044. Stocks opened higher on better-than-expected results for several heavyweights, including Microsoft Corp. MSFT +5.42% and General Electric Co. GE +1.77% Stocks are seen as a proxy for business conditions and as such as an indicator of demand for oil.
Markets will be watching for developments from International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings over the weekend, as well as the results of the first-round presidential vote in France. Read about France's election.
Among other energy products Friday, natural gas got a reprieve after settling Thursday at its lowest since September 2001.
May natural-gas NGK12 +0.47% gained 1 cent, or 0.7%, to $1.92 per million British thermal units.
May gasoline RBK2 +0.53% gained 2 cents, or 0.6%, to $3.17 a gallon, while May heating oil HOK2 +0.85% added 3 cents, or 0.9%, to $3.15 per gallon.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
