Heating oil little changed in NY

24/12/2008

Wholesale heating oil prices have remained stable at $1.3452 (91p) a gallon during trading this morning (December 24th), mimicking crude prices.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, heating oil prices were little changed during early trading, while crude prices also hovered around the $39 a barrel mark.

During yesterday's bidding, heating oil prices fell 1.45 cents, extending losses in recent weeks and tracking the plunging price of crude.

Tetsu Emori, a commodity fund manager at Astmax, told Bloomberg that the price of crude - and by implication heating oil costs - will not rise until there are positive signs of economic recovery.

Crude fell yesterday in part because of figures showing a collapse in house prices in the US, leading analysts to fear a deepened recession.

"As long as there is no sign of an economic recovery, people don't want to put money into the oil market. Demand is slower than we expected," Mr Emori said.