Energy
Oil Fluctuates as Dollar Shows Weakness
Chuck Marvin
08/14/08 - 11:37 AM EDT
Crude oil futures fell in early morning trading Thursday on poor economic data from the Eurozone, but have recently recouped those early losses at the New York Mercantile Exchange.
West Texas crude for September is up 9 cents at $116.09 a barrel, Brent was losing 11 cents at $113.36 a barrel, and reformulated gasoline and heating oil futures were unchanged at $3.13 a gallon and $2.93 a gallon respectively.
Near-term natural gas is falling 11 cents at $8.35 a gallon.
A slightly weaker U.S. dollar is supporting oil prices Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, energy stocks are trading in mixed fashion. BP (BP) was recently losing 0.3% at $59.41, ConocoPhillips (COP) was falling 1.8% at $80.90, Sasol (SSL)was advancing 4% at $53.24, and Exxon Mobil (XOM)shares were down 0.3% at $77.92.
The U.S. Oil Fund (USO), an exchange-traded fund that closely tracks the performance of Nymex WTI crude oil futures, was recently down 0.5% at $93.41.