Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Commodities: Crude gains ahead of Fed meeting


Date: Tuesday 10 Aug 2010
stock photo : Technique for oil in a landscape.
Oil prices rose on Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting. 

Crude for September delivery settled 78 cents higher at $81.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after Friday’s 1.6% decline. 

The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates near 0%, but focus will be on any potential new stimulus in response to recent weak US economic data. Friday’s disappointing jobs figures unnerved investors and underlined how fragile the economic recovery  is. 

Otherwise on a very quiet day for economic data, traders also looked to upcoming weekly oil supply data from the Department of Energy due Wednesday. After last week’s mixed supply picture analysts this week expect crude supplies to drop by 1.8m barrels, distillates to rise by 1.3m barrels and gasoline supplies to fall by 300,000 barrels. 

Gold prices closed modestly lower on Monday as investors took a breather ahead of the Fed’s meeting. Gold for December delivery fell $2.70 to $1,202.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. 

Silver for September lost 23 cents to $18.24 an ounce. Copper for September was up a penny at $3.35 a pound.
source:digitallook

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