By Sarah Turner and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Oil futures erased a loss and jumped closer to $90 a barrel in electronic trade on Thursday, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi affirmed his commitment to save the euro.
Crude for September delivery CLU2 +1.17% added 82 cents, or 0.9%, to $89.76 a barrel in European trading hours on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Wednesday, crude futures advanced 47 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $88.97 a barrel and seal a near-1% two-session advance. Read more on Wednesday's oil move.
Thursday’s sudden spike in oil prices came as Draghi at an investment conference in London reiterated his commitment to keep the euro.
“Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough,” he said, according to media reports.
Cheaper dollar helps
The strong move for oil prices was further underpinned by a drop in the dollar index DXY -1.00% which fell to 82.962 from 83.5734 in late North American trading on Wednesday. A falling dollar can often boost prices of dollar-denominated commodities, such as crude oil, as they get cheaper for holders of other currencies.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, also supporting sentiment.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures DJU2 +1.05% rose 138 points to 12,775, Nasdaq 100 futures NDU2 +1.22% added 32.75 points to 2.576.25 and S&P 500 futures SPU2 +1.26% were up 15.1 points to 1,350 in European trading hours.
Among other energy futures, August gasoline RBQ2 +1.48% rose 1.1% to $2.82 a gallon, while August heating oil HOQ2 +1.23% added 0.1% to $2.87 a gallon.
August natural gas NGQ12 +0.78% picked up 0.3% to $3.08 per million British thermal units.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.
Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter, based in London.
