What's Moving the Oil Markets?

What's Moving the Oil Markets?

•ICE Brent futures hovered around $58/barrel Thursday morning as market players awaited fresh news. Traders, however, said the market would be kept active on colder weather forecasts in the US and Europe.

•"We're stuck in a range for December futures, between $58 and $59/barrel. You see a bit of fund buying pushing it near the upper end and then all of a sudden there's a bout of profit taking which stops around the $58 level, which seems to be providing a fair amount of support," a London-based broker said.

•In the coming days in the Eastern US, temperatures are expected to be well below normal, with New York City expecting temperatures around 8 degrees Fahrenheit below the average for the time of year. Whilst in Europe, temperatures in Berlin and Rome are set to fall near 10 degrees Celsius below the average, by the weekend.

•In Wednesday's US inventory report the US EIA reported a 2.2 million barrel build in crude stocks for the week ended October 27. With regard to products, the EIA reported a larger than expected draw in gasoline and distillatestocks.

Updated: 11/02/06

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