LP:WTI oil price trading near $105 a barrel, follows US stock market higher
WTI oil prices open Tuesday’s trading session near $105 a barrel after upbeat news from America helped lift the US stock market after new manufacturing data indicating continued economic growth exceeded expectations.
Latest WTI Oil Price
US Light crude oil futures for May 2012 delivery was trading at $104.74 a barrel, 08.23 GMT today in electronic trading on the NYMEX.
US Stock Market
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest level since 2007. On Wall Street, the Dow finished 0.4 percent firmer at 13,264.50, while, the S&P 500 climbed 0.8 percent to end at 1,419.04, its best close since May 2008.
“After a massive run, what’s better than putting a cherry on top?” said Barry James, president of James Investment Research. “When you’ve got the market running higher, it likes to keep going higher until something really takes place. From an economic standpoint, there are enough positive markers for people to say that’s OK right now.”
All 10 sectors of the S&P 500 advanced, paced by the materials and tech sectors. Oil-and-gas company Denbury Resources rose, while coal producer Alpha Natural Resources increased.
Betting On Oil
Financial speculators in the market have also begun to reduce positions. Data released Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed money managers trimmed their net long investment in oil futures by 2.6 percent, to a notional value of $24.7 billion.
“It’s the first day of the new calendar quarter,” said Tim Evans, an analyst at Citi Futures Perspective. “Some of the long liquidation last week may have been end of quarter book squaring, and now it’s jumping right back in there. But this is not really a fundamental story; it’s just a trade flow story.”
