Oil Set for Monthly Gain as Economy Recovers, Stockpiles Drop

Crude oil is poised for the biggest monthly advance since October as the U.S. economy starts to recover and fuel inventories fall.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said this week the U.S. economy is in a “nascent” recovery. The U.K. emerged from recession in the fourth quarter at a faster pace than previously estimated, a report today showed. The amount of crude stored in tankers fell to 25 million barrels this month from levels of more than 80 million barrels last year, Poten & Partners said.

“Oil has recovered because of the first signs of economic growth,” said Christopher Bellew, senior broker at Bache Commodities Ltd. in London. “Stocks in floating storage have been diminishing.”

Crude oil for April delivery advanced 28 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $78.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 10:52 a.m. in London. A close at that level would mean an increase this month of 7.6 percent.

Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza