15:27 DJS Crude Gains On Inventory Data; Commodities Futures Settle Mixed
15:27 DJS Crude Gains On Inventory Data; Commodities Futures Settle Mixed
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Commodities futures ended mixed again Wednesday.
In New York, crude oil continued its recent advance as the latest weekly data
showed a large drop in crude inventories, while precious metals futures
finished higher, paced by platinum. In Chicago, grains and beans again ended
broadly lower.
The CRB-Bridge futures index finished up 0.04 at 210.14.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August crude oil rose 32 cents to
end at $14.87 a barrel. September crude oil rose 25 cents to $15.02 a barrel.
According to the American Petroleum Institute's inventory report
Tuesday evening, crude-oil stocks dropped 6.287 million barrels to 334.670
million barrels, their lowest level since early April. U.S. Department of
Energy data released Wednesday morning showed crude stocks down 6.7 million
barrels at 333.7 million barrels.
A jump in refinery utilization led to the draw, said analysts. The API
showed U.S. utilization up 2.1 percentage points at 100.2%, while the DOE
showed a 2.8-percentage-point rise to 100.9%.
Among petroleum products, August unleaded gasoline dropped 1.06 cents
to settle at 46.94 cents a gallon. Gasoline sellers were encouraged by
disappointing inventory figures. Gasoline stocks climbed 2.763 million
barrels, according to the API, amid demand of 8.2 million barrels a day. The
DOE showed a gasoline build of 3.3 million barrels a day.
Analysts had expected gasoline stocks to fall amid peak summer demand
of at east 8.4 million to 8.6 million barrels a day.
August heating oil rose 0.46 cent to settle at 39.32 cents a gallon.
While distillate stocks, which include heating oil, climbed in both the API
and DOE report, the year-on-year comparison of stock levels showed a dramatic
drop to 13.905 million barrels, from 16.878 million barrels the prior week.
August natural gas ended down 3.5 cents at $2.231 per million BTUs.
The crude inventory data added to bullish sentiment from Tuesday, when
trade sources said Saudi Arabia had begun notifying companies in Europe that
exports would be trimmed 2% on top of a 7% to 8% reduction in July. The
cutbacks are part of OPEC's plan to cut production by more than 2.6 million
barrels a day to support weak oil prices.
In other news, a crack in Ecuador's main oil pipeline, or SOTE, will
hinder the country's oil exports causing delays in deliveries, Petroecuador's
director of pipeline operations said Wednesday. The crack was caused Tuesday
by a mud slide driven by heavy rains.
On New York's Commodities Exchange, August gold rose 50 cents to settle
at $294.50 an ounce.
September silver climbed 1.8 cents to end at $5.343 an ounce.
October platinum jumped $7.40 to finish at $390.30 per ounce.
"Platinum was strong right from the start," said Robin Alssid, precious
metals manager at Mitsubishi International Corp. in New York. "There was some
fund buying early on and the market got long."
Alssid said that once prices moved past $388 an ounce - last week's
high - with little pull back, the market took it as a sign to move higher.
Among industrial metals, September copper jumped 1.60 cents to end at
76.55 cents per pound.
Gold was fixed Wednesday afternoon in London at $293.15 an ounce, up 35
cents from the morning fixing.
Among grains in Chicago:
December wheat fell 1 1/2 cents to end at $2.85 per bushel.
December corn dropped 3 1/4 cents to finish at $2.33 1/2 a bushel.
December oats fell 2 1/4 cents to end at $1.26 1/4 a bushel.
November soybeans dropped 3 cents to finish at $5.78 a bushel.
Late Tuesday, a huge sell-off took place, sending new-crop November
soybeans to one-month lows and new-crop December corn to a lifetime contract
low.
The weather outlook remained unsupportive for grains and soybeans. New
models show less heat this week than previously thought, and also predict rain
across large swaths of the Corn Belt.
"The weather's good," said Steve Bruce, broker with O'Connor & Co. on
the CBOT floor. "There were some unexpected rains in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska,
and Minnesota overnight. Some people think that the crop is made after those
rains."
In livestock:
August cattle fell 0.28 cent to settle at 62.20 cents per pound.
August hogs fell 0.38 cent to end at 50.33 cents per pound.
August pork bellies dropped 1.03 cents to finish at 51.45 cents per
pound.
Among food and fiber futures in New York:
September coffee dipped 0.10 cent to end at $1.0710 per pound.
December cotton edged up 0.15 cent to settle at 72.50 cents per pound.
October sugar edged down 0.01 cent to settle at 8.66 cents per pound.
September orange juice dipped 0.65 cent to end at 104.50 cents per
pound. Speculators and technical traders sold because of the lack of any
direction to the market, said Frank Lesh, vice president with Rand Financial
Services, Inc., a brokerage in Chicago.
Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
07/15 3:27p CDT
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