By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures wavered between small gains and losses Thursday, ignoring good news from a key gauge of manufacturing activity in the U.S. to vacillate after two days of sharp gains.
Crude for August delivery CL1Q +0.52% gained 4 cents to trade at $94.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The gains followed a 2% rally for oil prices Wednesday, after weekly U.S. inventories dropped by a bigger margin than analysts had forecast. Oil futures had gained 2.5% on Tuesday.
The two sessions of gains took a bit of the sting out of dismal June for oil. Futures have lost nearly 8% so far this month.
That follows steep losses in May, which broke oil’s winning streak in monthly terms that stretched back to September 2010.
July and the rest of the third quarter will be marked by more supply, analysts at Barclays Capital said.
“No doubt, the availability of crude should improve materially, at least in parts of the third quarter, thereby covering for a large part of the stock draws implied in our and consensus balances, and this will clearly have, and is already having, a significant negative short-term impact on prices and curve shapes,” they said.
Meanwhile, the dollar slipped against major counterparts on Thursday, as the euro EURUSD +0.52% gained on the lower likelihood that Greece will default on its debt obligations.
On Wednesday, the Greek parliament approved a 78 billion euro ($112.2 billion) package of austerity measures and asset sales, putting the debt-stricken nation one step closer to receiving the tranche of financial aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Greek lawmakers approved Thursday the laws needed to implement the measures. Read more about Greece’s austerity plans.
The greenback tends to move inversely to dollar-priced commodities such as oil, as a stronger dollar makes the assets nominally cheaper.
The dollar index DXY -0.23% , which measures the performance of the U.S. unit against a basket of six rival currencies, slipped to 74.496 from 74.682 late Wednesday. Read more on currencies.
Natural-gas futures turned positive Thursday after a weekly inventories report showed an increase in supplies roughly in line with expectations. Natural gas for August delivery gained 3 cents, or 0.7%, to $4.36 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract traded at $4.25 per million Btus moments before the report was released. The Energy Information Administration reported an addition of 78 billion cubic feet to the nation’s supplies of natural gas for the week ended June 24. Analysts at Prestige Economics had projected gains around 76 bcf, while Citi Futures Perspective saw an increase of 83 bcf.
The two sessions of gains took a bit of the sting out of dismal June for oil. Futures have lost nearly 8% so far this month.
That follows steep losses in May, which broke oil’s winning streak in monthly terms that stretched back to September 2010.
July and the rest of the third quarter will be marked by more supply, analysts at Barclays Capital said.
“No doubt, the availability of crude should improve materially, at least in parts of the third quarter, thereby covering for a large part of the stock draws implied in our and consensus balances, and this will clearly have, and is already having, a significant negative short-term impact on prices and curve shapes,” they said.
Meanwhile, the dollar slipped against major counterparts on Thursday, as the euro EURUSD +0.52% gained on the lower likelihood that Greece will default on its debt obligations.
On Wednesday, the Greek parliament approved a 78 billion euro ($112.2 billion) package of austerity measures and asset sales, putting the debt-stricken nation one step closer to receiving the tranche of financial aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Greek lawmakers approved Thursday the laws needed to implement the measures. Read more about Greece’s austerity plans.
The greenback tends to move inversely to dollar-priced commodities such as oil, as a stronger dollar makes the assets nominally cheaper.
The dollar index DXY -0.23% , which measures the performance of the U.S. unit against a basket of six rival currencies, slipped to 74.496 from 74.682 late Wednesday. Read more on currencies.
Natural-gas futures turned positive Thursday after a weekly inventories report showed an increase in supplies roughly in line with expectations. Natural gas for August delivery gained 3 cents, or 0.7%, to $4.36 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract traded at $4.25 per million Btus moments before the report was released. The Energy Information Administration reported an addition of 78 billion cubic feet to the nation’s supplies of natural gas for the week ended June 24. Analysts at Prestige Economics had projected gains around 76 bcf, while Citi Futures Perspective saw an increase of 83 bcf.
