MW: Oil goes for sixth winning day, but gains muted
By Claudia Assis, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures struggled to hold gains Wednesday, vying for a sixth day of higher prices helped by a lower dollar and a strong open for U.S. stocks.
Crude for November delivery CL1X +0.01% added 10 cents to $85.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, fluctuating between small gains and losses.
Earlier Wednesday, the International Energy Agency lowered its expectations for oil demand worldwide this year and next, citing prospects for lower-than-expected growth. Read more about the IEA report.
Oil had traded in the black most of the Asian and European trading hours. Crude finished higher on Tuesday partly on a lower dollar.
It ignored a monthly report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that also cut oil’s global demand growth forecast for this year. The OPEC warned it could cut the outlook again this year.
The downwardly revised demand estimates are “driven by lower-than-expected [emerging-markets] demand and weaker economic assumptions,” analysts at J.P. Morgan said in a research note. Demand growth remains “healthy,” they added.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to release its own short-term outlook for oil later Wednesday. The report “should sing a similar tune to its counterparts,” said Matt Smith, analyst with Summit Energy, in a note to clients.
On Thursday, a day later than usual because of Columbus Day, the EIA will report on weekly energy-product inventories. Analysts polled by Platts expect U.S. stockpiles to show a decline of about 300,000 barrels for crude oil in the week ended Oct. 7.
Other energy products, meanwhile, also swerved between gains and losses. November gasoline RB1X +0.15% added less than 1 cent to $2.75 a gallon, while November heating oil HO1X +0.80% rose 2 cents, or 0.6%, to $2.92 a gallon.
