Commodity Daily News

Oil Continues to Trade on Under Stress

Crude Oil prices finished largely unchanged after an industry report showed U.S. stockpiles fell, raising optimism that fuel demand has increased as the economic crisis abated. The gains came as U.S. stock markets rose roughly 1% after industrial bellwether United Technologies posted results that beat Wall Street expectations and bank shares rebounded. The price of Crude plunged as low as $46.70, only to rebound as the gains in U.S. stock markets occurred. Oil prices have been tracking moves in equities closely in recent months as traders look for signs of a recovery from the economic slowdown that has curbed global demand for Oil for the first time in a quarter century.

Crude prices have been trading in a range between $46 and $55 for the past month, after rallying steadily since February from $33 a barrel, helped by hopes of economic recovery and OPEC's compliance with agreed supply cuts. The producer group has already cut member output quotas by 4.2 million barrels per day since September.