“Oil rose for a third day in New York on speculation that an agreement will be reached to avert a U.S. budget impasse that would trigger automatic spending cuts and tax increases next year, sapping demand for fuels.
West Texas Intermediate futures gained as much as 0.8 percent following yesterday’s close at the highest level in almost two weeks. In discussions on the so-called fiscal cliff, PresidentBarack Obama made a new offer after House Speaker John Boehner dropped his opposition to raising tax rates for some top earners. Crude supplies shrank last week while fuel stockpiles rose, according to a Bloomberg News survey before an Energy Department report tomorrow.
“It seems highly like that an acceptable compromise to avert the fiscal cliff will emerge in time,” said Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Jefferies Bache Ltd. in London.
Crude for January delivery climbed as much as 70 cents to $87.90 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $87.71 at 11:59 a.m. London time. The contract, which expires tomorrow, rose 47 cents to $87.20 yesterday, the highest close since Dec. 5. The more-actively traded February future rose 52 cents to $88.19 a barrel.
Brent for February settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange gained as much as 82 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $108.46 a barrel. The front-month European benchmark contract was at a $20.03 premium to the corresponding WTI future. The spread was $19.97 yesterday, the narrowest since Oct. 19…”
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
