Crude oil prices found support Monday morning, hovering near $90 per barrel due to improved economic sentiment in Europe.
Analysts are expecting the European Central Bank to begin purchasing bonds from struggling eurozone countries, particularly Spain and Italy. This has triggered a selloff of U.S. dollars, and an appetite for the euro. A weaker dollar gives commodities priced in dollars more appeal abroad.
Prices were recently correcting lower on the New York Mercantile Exchange with September delivery West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropping 23 cents to to $89.90 per barrel. Reformulated blendstock gasoline gained 0.09 cents to $2.7976 per gallon. Home heating oil slipped to $2.8841 per gallon, off 0.64 cents.
Natural gas was at $3.084 per million British thermal units, up marginally.
At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline rose slightly to $3.486 per gallon from Sunday's $3.485, AAA said.
