NEW YORK (Dow Jones) - Crude futures inched higher Monday, as the improved outlook for the economy of United States promised a possible exemption from the current glut of oil and fuel.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery settled down 42 cents, or 0.7%, higher at $ 63.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In the August crude contract expires on Tuesday, while most of the trading volume in September contract, which settled up 71 cents at $ 65.29 a barrel. Brent crude on the ICE Futures Exchange settled down $ 1.06, or 1.6%, higher at $ 66.44 a barrel.
Oil prices have a volatile month by entering two weeks away at the end of June, as pessimism about the economy took hold in the market, the growth in the last four trading sessions, when investors suddenly reversed.
On Monday, the good news outweighs the bad in the minds of investors, with the Conference Board reports on the 0,7% increase in its index of leading economic indicators for June. The gains in line with economists expectations and confirmed the slow improvement from the nadir of economic downturn earlier this year. In the Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently the activities of 98 points in 8842, while the S & P 500 rose 10 points to 951.
Investors hope that even a slight improvement in the economy quickly translate into higher demand for oil. However, consumption has not been able to get the spirit of this summer, resulting in a market overloaded with spare fuel, particularly diesel fuel. Analysts have found the last rally, as brittle materials, where to begin to tighten.
"Until something more substantial than a number of encouraging signs occur, we will continue to be skeptical," Mike Fitzpatrick, energy broker at MF Global in New York, wrote in a note to clients.
Front month crude futures contract began trading on the expansion of space-month discount, but a condition known as contango, which usually indicates that too much oil reached the market. The gap between the August and September futures stretched up to $ 1.56 at one point Monday, the highest discount is seen in more than two months.
"In the wider contango, the bearish market, a sign of weakness," said Tom Bentz, a broker and analyst of BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc. "This means that the quantity of supply."
The latest oil inventory data is due on Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. As Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts gave an average forecast for 1.2 million barrel decline in crude oil stocks, however, 700,000 barrels and gasoline stocks increased 1.4 million barrels to jump in distillate stocks, a category that includes heating oil and diesel fuel.
Front-month August reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, settled 1.95 cents, or 1.1%, higher at $ 1.7894 gallon. August oil settled 4.84 cents, or 3%, higher at $ 1.6894 gallon.
For more information about the settlements and highs and lows in the futures on the NYMEX and ICE platforms can be found by searching the following headings:
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