Heating oil down on employment concerns

4 December 2009

Heating oil prices slumped during the Asian trading session this morning (December 4th), affected by concerns about the strength of the job market in the US.

By 02:49 Central Time, the January-delivery New York Mercantile Exchange heating oil contract had fallen to $2.03 (€1.34) a gallon, down more than a cent on yesterday's settle price.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Victor Shum, a senior principal at consultants Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, said traders are concerned data due out later today will show persistent weakness in the US job market.

As a result, commodities fell broadly, with crude, copper, gold and other hard assets all recording losses alongside heating oil.

"The concern is that the unemployment report will also show poor performance. Some of that expectation is now priced into oil," he said.

Crude and heating have registered three days of falls this week, with inventories data published by the American Petroleum Institute and the Energy Information Administration highlighting the continuing anaemic demand for fuel in the US.

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