Commodity Prices - Gasoline
Gasoline is a commodity, which prices are heavily affected by the prices of oil, which in its turn is a highly speculative commodity. Gasoline is consumed by the internal combustion engines that are equipped on almost all cars today. News on gasoline consumption, inventories and the oil price fluctuations are presented in this category.
Decline in Gasoline Inventories Caused Oil Prices to Rise
Crude oil advanced to more than $77 per barrel to the highest in a year in New York after a report that U.S. gasoline stockpiles fell as refineries idled units for maintenance. Refineries operations dropped to 80.9 percent of capacity, the lowest since April. As the result, inventories of the motor fuel slumped to 5.23 million barrels last week and gasoline output slid 10 percent.
Refiners usually idle units for repairs and upgrades in October, when demand for gasoline is lower, and before heating-oil use increases. Yet 4.1 percentage point drop in refinery utilization rates last week was the biggest since September 2008. The report was definitely bullish for the oil products.
Another reason for the oil prices increase is global economic recovery. As example of the recovery can be considered the fact that the increase for the cost of living in the U.S. was slower in September.
November delivery for crude oil futures advanced $1.73 (2.3 percent) to $76.91 per barrel by 13:05 on NYMEX. November settlement for Brent crude oil gained $1.04 (1.4 percent) to $74.14 per barrel on ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Increase of Oil, Gasoline, Copper & Gold
Oil and gasoline gained today with signs of increasing industrial activity. Good economic prospects cause rebound of fuel demand leading to increased oil and gasoline prices. September delivery for crude oil gained $2.11 (3 percent) to $71.56 per barrel by 11:08 on NYMEX. September delivery for gasoline raised $0.0541 (2.7 percent) to $2.0667 per gallon in New York.
Copper jumped more than 4 percent to 10-month high. As U.S. and Chinese manufacturing are experiencing recovery speculation are rising on increasing demand for industrial materials. September delivery for copper went up $0.1095 (4.2 percent) to $2.733 per pound as of 11:40 on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division.
Gold rises to the highest in almost two months as dollar weakens today. Tendency for gold to rise when dollar falls causes gold to gain as dollar weakens and demand for the metal as alternative investment increases. December delivery for gold raised $7 (0.7 percent) to $962.80 per ounce at 12:51 on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division.
Copper Goes Up, Gold Rises, Oil & Gasoline Gain
Copper went up in New York today. Demand for metals used in construction and automobiles rises because of recovering economies making copper go up in New York and London. September futures for copper gained $0.0045 (0.2 percent) to $2.4735/pound at 8:28 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold may go up as a declining dollar rises demand for the metal as an alternative investment. The dollar fell 1.7 percent against the single European currency while gold futures gained 2.4 percent this month. August futures for gold gained $1.60 (0.2 percent) to $950.40/ounce on NYMEX by 8:32.
Crude oil and gasoline rises today as earnings cause contraction to stop. Earnings at Caterpillar Inc. was better than expected potentially making contraction to stop in the world’s biggest fuel-consuming country resulting in rise of crude oil rose and gasoline. Futures reached $65.53, the highest since July 6th. Crude oil for August delivery gained $0.86 (1.3 percent), to $64.84/barrel as of 10:23 on NYMEX.
Biggest One Day Gain for Crude Oil
Friday’s
Last year at this time crude oil was around $66.00 barrel. Fridays close was a new record and put oil above $139.00 barrel.
What does this mean for Forex traders….how commodity prices affect currencies.
