Crude breaches $50 mark

19/03/2009

Crude futures traded above $50 (£34) a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (March 19th), following the announcement of a massive debt repurchasing plan from the Federal Reserve.

By 7:08 Eastern Time, light, sweet crude for April delivery had gained $2.24 on the barrel and was trading at $50.38, the first time it has passed the symbolic $50 barrier since January.

The upward move reverses a decline witnessed yesterday that followed the publication of data from the Energy Information Administration which showed a larger-than-anticipated rise in US crude stockpiles.

Stocks of distillates such as heating oil also rose, the group found.

A poll conducted by Bloomberg estimated that inventories would have risen by 1.5 million barrels over the course of last week.

In actuality, stockpiles were up two million barrels, indicating that demand for the commodity was even weaker than anticipated.