Oil
On Thursday, the oil futures were trading above $75 per barrel, having regained the lost positions amid the US economic data, which denoted the continuation of the US economic rehab though at a slower pace.
On New York Commodity Exchange October light crude futures were up by $1.11 to $75.02 per barrel. Brent futures uprose by $0.56 to $76.91 per barrel.
In the result of this upturn the oil returned to the middle of its recent trading range between $70-80 per barrel, which is curbing the fluctuations lately. The direction of the oil futures are still determined by the economic indicators. The market participants are trying to foresee the demand in oil judging by the economic stance. Moreover, a stormy season is beginning in the Atlantic thus the traders are watching the growing activity level of hurricanes, which can influence the oil production.
The released on Wednesday optimistic report on the manufacturing activity in the USA were supported by the governmental data published on Thursday. The Labor Department of the USA declared that the initial jobless claims for the last week slightly declined by 6000 to 472,000. The index of the signed agreements of houses sales in July exceeded the predictions and uprose by 5.2% after a consecutive two-month descend. Factory orders in July ticked up a little which was mostly related to commercial airplanes and other transport vehicles, and these markets are attributed to the large oil and fuel consumers.
However, the long-term growth is hardly expected. Considering the fact that the oil and petroleum products supply in the USA is on the highest levels in 27 years, the traders anticipate the weak and stagnating economy amid the excess supply. These contradicting facts taken with the fears about the influence of storms to the oil production hold the prices in the narrow range.
In the recent days the traders’ attention was drawn by the weather forecasts. The hurricane Earl is moving along the eastern coast of the USA and can cause the reduction of the oil demand in case of the planned trips on weekend, to which the Labor Day falls. The National Hurricane Centre in the USA has informed about a formation of the tropical storm Gaston in the more south region of the ocean.
Moreover, on Thursday, at a distance of about 100 miles to the south of the city Vermilion Bay, Louisiana, an oil platform exploded, which owner is Mariner Energy Inc. Note that just four months ago the platform Deepwater Horizon. This accident caused the largest oil spill in the US history, which cost the oil giant BP PLC billions of US dollars.
The explosion on the platform Mariner could have been the reason for the prices enhancement on Thursday, however, any change on this background is likely to be short-term.
Gold
On Thursday gold futures ended slightly up amid the US dollar decrease. Meanwhile, the investors were waiting for the publication of non-farm payrolls in the USA due on Friday.
According to the results of the session December gold futures increased by $5.30 or by 0.4% to $1253.40 per ounce.
The background of the positive overall tone on the precious metals market was the US dollar decline versus the euro observed after a successful Spanish bond auction, and also no surprises from the part of the European Central Bank which remained unchanged the key interest rate.
A weak US dollar often supports the denominated in the US dollars gold prices, decreasing them for the buyers with other currencies, which has a favorable influence for a demand.
Gold was also assisted by its being a shelter asset before the planned for Friday data on the US unemployment. The report is expected to demonstrate the decrease of jobs by 110,000.
