Crude Oil Soars To End Near $46 A Barrel

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil surged to end sharply higher on Thursday, after an official weekly oil report from the Energy Information Administration showed crude stockpiles in the U.S. to have increased more than expected last week.

Oil found support with the dollar trending lower, making it attractive to holders of other currencies.

Early Wednesday, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed crude stockpiles in the U.S. to have increased 2.6 million barrels in the week ended August 28, while analysts anticipated an increase of 0.3 million barrels. Total U.S. crude stockpiles aggregated 458.0 million barrels end last week, at levels not seen for this time of year in the last 80 years.

Gasoline supplies increased 0.4 million barrels, while analysts anticipated a decline of 0.6 million barrels. Distillate stockpiles rose 1.0 million barrels last week, while analysts expected a rise of 0.9 million barrels..

The report also showed total weekly domestic oil production dropped by 83,000 barrels to 9.14 million barrels a day.

Meanwhile, the oil and industry trade group American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday said crude supplies increased 2.1 million barrels end last week.

The EIA said this week that it expects OPEC to continue producing oil at a record pace, while U.S. production will fall as company's struggle to cope with low crude oil prices.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for October delivery, the most actively traded contract, surged $1.77 or 4 percent, to settle at $45.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday.

Crude prices for October delivery scaled a high of $45.95 a barrel intraday and a low of $43.36.

On Wednesday, crude oil plummeted $1.79 or 3.9 percent, to settle at $44.15, as investors digested the Energy Information Administration cut its crude oil price forecast for the year.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 95.49 on Thursday, down from its previous close of 95.94 in late North American trade on Wednesday. The dollar scaled a high of 96.20 intraday and a low of 95.40.

The euro trended higher against the dollar at 1.1282 on Thursday, as compared to its previous close of 1.1208 in North American trade late Wednesday. The euro scaled a high of 1.1297 intraday and a low of 1.1174.

On the economic front, a Labor Department report on Thursday showed jobless claims to have pulled back in the week ended September 6, with initial jobless claims dropping to 275,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 281,000. Economists expected jobless claims to dip to 275,000 from the 282,000 originally reported for the prior week.

Import prices in the U.S. tumbled by 1.8 percent in August following an unrevised 0.9 percent decrease in July. Economists expected import prices to drop by 1.6 percent. The report also showed a steep drop in export prices, which slumped by 1.4 percent in August after falling by a revised 0.4 percent in July. Export prices had been expected to edge down by about 0.4 percent compared to the 0.2 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.

Wholesale inventories in the U.S. edged down by 0.1 percent in July following a downwardly revised 0.7 percent increase in June. Economists expected inventories to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.9 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

China's inflation rose to a 12-month high of 2 percent in August from 1.6 percent in July, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday. It was expected to rise to 1.8 percent. Producer prices declined at a faster pace of 5.9 percent annually, following a 5.4 percent drop in July. This was the weakest rate since late 2009 and marked 42 consecutive months of declines.

Core machine orders in Japan slid 3.6 percent on month in July, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday - worth 805.6 billion yen. The headline figure was well shy of forecasts for an increase of 3.3 percent following the 7.9 percent contraction in June.

French industrial production declined unexpectedly in July, data from the statistical office Insee revealed Thursday. Industrial production slid 0.8 percent in July from June, when it remained flat. It was expected to grow 0.2 percent.

France's non-farm payroll employment increased in the three months ended June after staying flat in the previous quarter, figures from the statistical office INSEE showed Thursday. Payroll employment in the principally market sectors, which include the manufacturing, construction and service sectors, rose 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, after showing no variations in the preceding quarter.

U.K. house prices logged its biggest monthly increase in 15 months, data from Lloyds Banking Group's Halifax division revealed Thursday. House prices advanced 2.7 percent in August from July, which was the fastest increase since May 2014. Economists had forecast prices to climb 0.5 percent after falling 0.4 percent in July.

House prices in the United Kingdom spiked in August, the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed on Thursday as its house price balance surged to 53 percent. That topped forecasts for an increase of 46 percent and was up sharply from 44 percent in July.