By Victor Reklaitis and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Oil futures showed gains on Tuesday after the latest data on durable-goods orders and housing, and as prices continue to find support from pipeline closures in Canada.
Crude oil for August delivery CLQ3 -0.20% rose 58 cents, or 0.6%, to $95.76 a barrel. The contract briefly moved above $96 on Tuesday, but hasn’t managed to hold above that level.
U.S. durable-goods orders increased 3.6% in May, although that fell short of the 3.8% growth expected by analysts polled by MarketWatch.
Meanwhile, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rose 2.5% in April, the largest monthly growth on record. The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s separate reading on home prices scored a seasonally adjusted gain of 0.7% in April.
Recovery in the housing sector has been key in helping the U.S. economy to mend from the financial crisis, a supportive factor for the oil market. But Tuesday’s two data points reflect action before a spike in mortgage rates that may have impacted consumer activity and home buyers.
Investors on Tuesday may also look for energy-demand clues from a report on June consumer confidence, due at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
Oil has found buyers on news that a major pipeline in the Canadian province of Alberta remains shut after heavy flooding initially closed two pipelines. Enbridge Inc. ENB +0.81% CA:ENB +1.57% late Monday said it has returned one of the pipelines to service.
“The pipeline interruption has already resulted in Canadian oil-sand production being scaled back, and is likely to contribute to lower U.S. oil imports and falling U.S. inventory levels,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note.
U.S. oil futures on Monday rose by $1.49 a barrel, or 1.6%, turning higher on the news of pipeline closures in Alberta.
The American Petroleum Institute update on U.S. commercial crude-oil inventory is due at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, and analysts polled by Platts estimated on average a decline of 2 million barrels for the week ended June 21.
A more widely watched report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
Last week, the EIA reported an unexpected increase of 300,000 barrels in oil stockpiles to 394.1 million barrels. At that level, the EIA said, inventories were above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
August futures for London-traded Brent crude UK:LCOQ3 +0.13% on Tuesday were up 36 cents, or 0.4%, at $101.52 a barrel, shaking off a downgrade from Credit Suisse. The bank cut its Brent forecast to $108 a barrel from a prior $112.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, natural gas for July delivery NGN13 -1.23% dipped 1 cent to $3.73 per million British thermal units, and July gasoline RBN3 +0.74% rose a penny to $2.75 a gallon.
August heating oil HOQ3 +0.27% added 2 cents to $2.87 a gallon.
Victor Reklaitis is a New York-based markets writer for MarketWatch. Follow him on Twitter @VicRek.
Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter based in London. Follow her on Twitter @sarasjolin. Carla Mozee also contributed to this report.
