Crude ends marginally lower

Natural gas vaults substantially during the week

Crude oil prices ended lower on Friday, 29 October 2010 at Nymex. Somber economic data and steady dollar pushed prices lower.



On Friday, crude oil futures for light sweet crude for December delivery closed at $81.43/barrel (lower by $0.75 or 0.9%). For the week, crude ended lower by 0.3%, its fourth consecutive weekly losses.

For the month of October, crude ended higher by 1.8%. In September, crude prices ended higher by 11.2%. For the third quarter, crude ended higher by 5.7%. Crude had ended second quarter of CY 2010 lower by 9.3%. For the first quarter of this year, crude rose by 5.5%. Year to date, crude is higher by 8.7%.

In the currency market on Friday, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies fell by 0.1%. Speculation that any future measures of quantitative easing might be applied gradually or be smaller in scope have kept the dollar volatile in recent times.

The Commerce Department in US reported on Friday, 29 October 2010 that the U.S. economy grew at a slightly slower pace than expected. The report said gross domestic product rose at a 2% annual rate in the third quarter while market had expected a 2.1% growth rate.

Another report showed that the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer-sentiment index fell to 67.7 in October from 68.2 the previous month.

In the latest weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said during the week that crude-oil inventories rose 5 million barrels last week. Gasoline supplies decreased 4.4 million, and distillate inventories decreased by 1.6 million.

Among other energy products on Friday, reformulated gasoline for December delivery retreated 2 cents, or 1.1%, to $2.06 a gallon, flat for the week. Gasoline gained 1% in October. December heating settled 2 cents lower, or 1%, to $2.24. On the week, the fuel declined 0.4%; it lost 1.3% in the month.

Also on Friday, natural gas for December delivery advanced 15 cents, or 3.8%, to settle at $4.04 per million British thermal units. On the week, natural gas vaulted 21%. Natural-gas futures gained 4.4% in October. The EIA said during the week that natural gas in storage rose 71 billion cubic feet for the week ended 22 October against an expected increase of 70 billion to 74 billion cubic feet.

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. Crude prices had ended FY 2008 lower by 54%, the largest yearly loss since trading began at Nymex.