Futures struggle to hold on to winning streak By Claudia Assis and Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures swerved between small gains and losses Wednesday, threatening a five-day winning streak, with some support from a German court ruling that cleared the way for ratifying Europe’s bailout plan. Crude for October delivery CLV2 +0.10% gained 19 cents, or 0.2%, at $97.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It traded in and out of the red earlier, with prices as high as $98.06 a barrel.
Oil settled 0.7% higher on Tuesday, marking a fifth session of gains, boosted in part by hopes for central-bank stimulus.
Brent crude for November delivery UK:LCOX2 +0.40% advanced 55 cents, or 0.5%, to $115.32 a barrel on ICE Futures London as energy traders kept an eye on developments out of the Middle East, where the U.S. ambassador to Libya was killed in Benghazi on Tuesday. Read more on ambassador’s death.
Also providing support, traders were hopeful U.S. Federal Reserve officials will announce more stimulus at the end of its Federal Open Market Committee two-day meeting on Thursday. Read: Expectations ramp up for QE3 -- but maybe not now Equities and commodities gained Wednesday after Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court said it won’t block ratification of the European Stability Mechanism, clearing the way for Europe to move toward solving its sovereign-debt crisis.
Supply data were also in focus on Wednesday. The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories for the week ended Sept. 7 rose 221,000 barrels.
The more closely watched U.S. Energy Information Administration’s supply report is due Wednesday.
Analysts polled by Platts expect crude inventories to decline by 3.3 million barrels. Gasoline supplies are seen down 2.3 million barrels, while stockpiles of distillates are forecast to decline 1.5 million barrels.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday that global pressures are clouding the oil-market outlook. It maintained its oil-demand growth forecasts for 2012 and 2013 at 800,000 barrels a day.
“There are many moving parts; there’s concern about the economy and there’s concern about supply. I don’t think there’s any room for complacency,” said Antoine Halff, editor and head of the oil industry and markets division at the IEA.
In other energy trading, gasoline for October delivery RBV2 +0.51% rose 2 cents, or 0.5%, to $3.06 a gallon. October heating oil HOV2 +0.51% gained 1 cent, or 0.4%, to $3.20 a gallon.
Natural gas was giving back some of its recent gains. The October contract NGV12 -0.50% lost 3 cents, or 1%, to $2.96 per million British thermal units. It settled Tuesday up 6.4%, preceded by Monday’s gains of more than 4%.
