Heating oil tracks crude up on optimism

17 March 2010

Written by Bob Burton

Heating oil prices rose dramatically on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday (March 16th) after a statement from the US Federal Reserve inspired a bullish sentiment on trading floors.

In its latest policy statement, the Fed restated its pledge to keep interest rates frozen at near-zero levels while the global economy recovers.

Responding, traders made moves into high-yield assets such as emerging market currencies and equities, while commodities also received a boost from a falling dollar and the announcement that crude output caps would remain in place.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries confirmed that it will continue to impose limits on crude output until demand improves further and the disparity between supply and demand is corrected.

The oil cartel imposed production cuts of 4.2 million barrels in late 2008 as demand plummeted during the financial crisis. At its meeting in Vienna, the organisation voted to keep these cuts in place to avoid flooding the market with oil products while demand is still weak.

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