Heating oil stable despite jobs data

21/08/2009

Heating oil prices moved upwards in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (August 21st), mimicking flat trading in crude futures on the bourse.

The relative stability came despite the announcement from the US Labor Department yesterday showing an unexpected rise in the number of people claiming state benefits.

Both heating oil and crude moved lower at the end of trading yesterday in reaction to the announcement after concerns about demand began to re-emerge.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Anthony Nunan, an assistant general manager for risk management at Mitsubishi Corp, said that while gross domestic product is expected to push up demand for crude products, unemployment will continue to have an oppressive effect on consumer demand in the medium term.

Commenting on the current demand situation, he added: "There's too much inventory, so until we get a real recovery it's hard for the market to climb."