Heating oil prices climb, traders eye inventories

8 June 2010

Written by Kim Bardsley

Heating oil prices were climbing on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (June 8th) as traders digested statements from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

Speaking at a dinner in Washington last night, the chairman reassured guests and the media that the US is experiencing a moderately-paced recovery.

And while his comments helped to calm traders made nervous by recent weak US employment figures, there was also optimism about upcoming petroleum inventory reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The API figures will be posted later today and a Reuters poll reveals expectations that crude stocks fell 900,000 barrels last week on the back of stronger demand. A Bloomberg poll puts the decline at one million barrels.

Both crude and heating oil were up in early trading, with the latter gaining 1.3 cents to trade around $1.981 (€1.65) a gallon by the time European markets opened.