WTI, Brent both trade below $44 per barrel

Oil prices fell Thursday taking back some of Wednesday’s gains.

April contracts for West Texas Intermediate Crude was down $1.77 to $43.61 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude dropped $2.22 to $43.90 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex April gasoline was 7 cents lower to $1.31 per gallon while April heating oil dropped 5 cents to $1.16 per gallon and April natural gas was down 25 cents to $4.09 per million British thermal units.

Copper prices dropped after China’s premier said that China will not need to make further stimulus plans beyond those already announced.

May copper dropped 4 cents to $1.65 per pound in New York trade while three-month copper was down $60 to $3,685 per tonne, or $1.67 per pound, on the London Metal Exchange.

The price declines came even though LME inventories dropped another 0.2 percent on the session today, the sixth consecutive decline in stockpiles.

Precious metals prices were up in New York, however.

Gold added $21.10 to $927.880 per troy ounce as it looked like a safer investment than equities after markets declined on more bad news from the Mortgage Bankers Association concerning mortgage delinquencies and loans in foreclosure.

Silver and platinum both also saw gains as May silver added 20 cents to $13.11 per troy ounce and April platinum was $19.80 higher to $1,063 per troy ounce.

Grains prices were lower on the Chicago Board of Trade as March corn was down 6 cents to $3.49 per bushel, March wheat fell 7 cents to $5.04 per bushel and March soybeans dropped 13 cents to $8.62 per bushel.

Story link: WTI, Brent both trade below $44 per barrel