Crude slips on all days of the week

Prices shed almost 6% during the week

Crude oil prices slipped once again on Friday, 15 January 2010. With Friday's drop, it ended lower on all the days of the week. Prices fell as the dollar turned strong as earning and economic reports failed to cheer investors at Wall Street.

On Friday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for February delivery closed at $78/barrel (lower by $1.39 or 1.8%). Crude ended the week lower by 5.7%. On a year to date basis till date, crude is lower by 2.1%.

Crude ended FY 2009 higher by 78%, the highest yearly gain since 1999. It reached a high of $82 earlier in October 2009 and hit a low of $33.98 on 12 February 2009. Oil prices had reached a high of $147 on 11 July, 2008 but have dropped almost 47% since then. Crude prices had ended FY 2008 lower by 54%, the largest yearly loss since trading began at Nymex.

Paris based, IEA, left its forecasts for global oil demand for 2010 virtually unchanged in its latest monthly report. It forecasts demand of 86.3 million barrels a day in 2010, up 1.7%, or 1.4 million barrels a day higher than 2009.

In the currency market on Friday, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of dollar against the basket of six other currencies rose by almost 0.7%.

The Federal Reserve in US reported on Friday, 15 January, 2010 that output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities rose a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in December, 2009, the sixth increase in a row.

Separately, the Commerce Department in US reported on Friday, 15 January 2010 that its consumer price index increased 0.1% in December 2009, down from a 0.4% advance in November. This is the lowest rate since July and is slightly below expectations of a 0.2% rise.

The EIA reported earlier during the week that crude-oil supplies rose by 3.7 million barrels in the week ended 8 January, 2009. Market was expecting a buildup of 1.9-million-barrel increase. The report also showed that U.S. distillate inventories were up 1.4 million barrels.

Earlier during the week, in its monthly short-term outlook, EIA reported that West Texas crude-oil prices, which averaged about $62 a barrel last year, will average about $79.83 this year and about $83.5 in 2011. Prices should average $77 in the first quarter and $85 in the fourth quarter this year. The forecast assumes U.S. growth of 2% this year and 2.7% in 2011. In its December outlook, the EIA forecast that world oil consumption will grow in 2010 by 1.1 million barrels a day to put the total daily figure at 85.2 million barrels.

Also on Friday, natural gas finished higher by 10.2 cents, or 1.8%, at $5.69 per million British thermal units. Heating oil and gasoline prices fell on that day.