September WTI up as contract expires

Crude oil prices were volatile Thursday after the US Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims were up again last week.

Down at times during the session, September contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up 20 cents to $72.62 per barrel shortly before the end of the floor trade session on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

With September contracts expiring at the end of the day, October contracts were down 74 cents to $73.09 per barrel in afternoon trade, while at last report Brent crude was $1.29 lower to $73.30 per barrel.

In earlier trade, Nymex September gasoline futures were 5 cents lower to $1.98 per gallon while heating oil futures fell 3 cents to $1.90 per gallon.

In afternoon trade, September natural gas futures were down 6 cents to $3.06 per million British thermal units after going as low as $2.95 per million British thermal units earlier in the session on a new inventories report from the Energy Information Administration, which said that stockpiles were up by 52 billion cubic feet to 3.2 trillion cubic feet last week, well ahead of last year and the five-year average.

Precious metals prices were mixed.

December gold was down $3.10 to $941.70 per troy ounce in New York trade, while September silver added a cent to $13.88 per troy ounce and October platinum gained 60 cents to $1,242 per troy ounce.

The stronger dollar also reduced the price of copper in New York after the metal used in construction and manufacturing was up in earlier traded on gains in China’s equities markets.

September copper was down 2 cents to $2.74 per pound in New York, but three-month copper was up $24 to $6,005 per tonne at last report from the London Metal Exchange.

Grains prices were also mixed in afternoon trade in Chicago, where September soybeans added 3 cents to $10 per bushel and September wheat was 4 cents higher to $4.70 per bushel, but September corn fell less than a cent to $3.19 per bushel.

Story link: September WTI up as contract expires