WTI Trims Sixth Weekly Loss as Investors Weigh Stimulus Outlook

 West Texas Intermediate rose, trimming a sixth weekly loss, as speculation the U.S. will maintain economic stimulus countered rising supplies in the world’s biggest oil consumer.

Futures gained as much as 0.3 percent in New York, heading for the longest weekly losing streak since December 1998. Prices swung between gains and losses yesterday after an Energy Information Administration report showed U.S. stockpiles climbed to the highest level since June while Janet Yellen, the nominee for Federal Reserve chairman, said she will ensure the central bank’s asset purchases don’t end too soon.

WTI for December delivery climbed as much as 28 cents to $94.04 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was at $93.98 at 11:01 a.m. Sydney time. It fell 12 cents to $93.76 yesterday. The volume of all futures traded was about 73 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are down 0.6 percent this week.

Brent for December settlement expired yesterday after gaining $1.42, or 1.3 percent, to $108.54 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The more actively traded January contract rose $1.39 to $108.28. The front-month European crude ended the session at a premium of $14.78 to WTI, expanding a fifth day to the biggest gap since March.

U.S. crude inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI contracts and the nation’s biggest oil-storage hub, increased 1.7 million barrels to 38.2 million, the highest level since the period ending Aug. 9, according to the EIA. Total U.S. supplies jumped 2.64 million barrels last week, more than triple the 800,000-barrel average estimate by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

(Source: Bloomberg)