MW: Oil rises 2% on Apple results; traders shrug off jobs data
Crude-oil futures rose Thursday for a third session after strong quarterly results from Apple Inc. cheered investors, helping them shrug off data showing a rise in jobless claims.
Crude for June delivery gained 93 cents, or 1.9%, to $49.85 a barrel in early North American electronic trading on Globex.
On Wall Street, U.S. stock futures pointed to opening gains after Apple reported a stronger-than-forecast 15% profit rise on iPod and iPhone sales.
Economic data, however, reminded energy traders once again of the depth of the economic crisis.
First-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose a seasonally adjusted 27,000 to 640,000 in the week ended April 18, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
At the same time, continuing claims hit 6.14 million -- more than double the level in the prior year. These continuing claims have reached new weekly records since late January, signaling that workers are having a tough time finding jobs.
On Wednesday, oil futures ended slightly higher, as better-than-expected news on the housing front offset data that showed another buildup in U.S. crude inventories.
The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that crude inventories increased 3.7 million barrels to 370.6 million barrels, the highest level since September 1990. Analysts surveyed by Platts had expected a buildup of 3 million barrels.
"The recent EIA numbers seem to be telling us that the OPEC cuts are not making the desired dents in overall crude oil inventories, as the drop in global demand seems to be outpacing the OPEC-engineered supply declines," said Edward Meir, analyst at MF Global, in a note to clients.
Since last year, the OPEC oil cartel has agreed cuts in its production in a bid to stabilize oil prices.
"However, for the time being, the energy markets seem to be giving OPEC the benefit of the doubt, which is why prices are holding up around the $50 mark," Meir said.
Also on Globex Thursday, May reformulated gasoline was flat at $1.39 a gallon and May heating oil gained 1 cent to $1.34 a gallon.
May natural gas futures fell 3 cents to $3.50 per million British thermal units.
The EIA will report last week's natural-gas inventories on Thursday. Analysts surveyed by Platts expect an increase of 41 billion cubic feet to 46 billion cubic feet.
