Oil Tops $90 for First Time in Two Months
Oil finished the trading day Thursday at more than $90 a barrel — the first time it has closed over that level in two months, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures rose 15 cents to finish at $90.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the fist Nymex closing price over $90 since Oct. 19.
The increase as Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product rose 3.1% in the third quarter, a higher-than-projected increase, which outweighed uncertainties that federal lawmakers would reach a budget deal to avert the “fiscal cliff,” Bloomberg said.
Oil has increased for five straight trading days, the longest string of gains since September. The latest gains followed a Department of Energy report released Wednesday that showed crude supplies fell by 1 million barrels last week.
Distillate inventories — which include diesel and heating oil — fell by 1.1 million barrels, , while gasoline stockpiles rose 2.2 million barrels, DOE said in its weekly report.
Bloomberg analysts had forecast a 1.8 million-barrel decline in crude inventories and a 1 million-barrel gain in distillates. The gasoline increase was in line with forecasts.
Diesel and gasoline pump prices have declined steadily for the past two to three months, with diesel down about 20 cents since mid-October and gasoline down more than 60 cents since September, according to DOE figures.
