Oil prices finished lower by a little more than 1% on Thursday, moving away from record levels. Light sweet crude oil traded at $93.49, down $1.04 on the session. Oil reached as low as $92.06 in the mid-morning, but has recouped some of those losses. Prices moved lower as the U.S. dollar rebounded against some of the other majors, reducing crude's hedge value. The greenback pulled away from record lows against the euro and its lowest levels in more an 25 years against the pound and loonie. Crude soared to a record $96.24 in overnight trading, moving closer to the inflation-adjusted record levels of $101.70, reached in April of 1980. Oil soared Wednesday after the Department of Energy's weekly inventory report showed a drop in stockpiles and posted a record close of $94.53. The weekly report showed crude inventories were down 3.89 million barrels for the week ended October 26. Analysts had expected crude oil inventories to increase by about 300,000 barrels. Meanwhile gasoline inventories were up 1.29 million barrels. Distillates added 808,000 barrels. Later in the day, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, in a further attempt to stop problems in the housing market from stifling overall economic growth. However, inflation continued to be a significant concern and one policy-maker refused to vote for the rate cut. In other energy trading on Thursday, natural gas climbed to $8.637. Traders considered the weekly inventory report that revealed natural gas stockpiles were up 66 billion cubic feet.
November 1, 2007 3:42 PM