Heating oil rallies ahead of EIA data and durable goods report

25 August 2010

Written by John King.

Heating oil prices were rising for the first time in five days during electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning, as traders anticipated the latest US petroleum demand figures.

Both heating oil and crude received support from the latest weekly demand report from the American Petroleum Institute released yesterday, which showed an unexpected decline in fuel inventories.

Now, traders are awaiting a corroboration of the industry-funded figures by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which will issue its demand report later today.

Traders are also looking ahead to US durable goods data due out later today, said Stefan Graber, a commodities analyst with Credit Suisse in Singapore, speaking to Reuters.

"Durable goods orders could also be an important number today, and in case we see positive data, this could ease the immediate concerns and spill into the oil market," he said.

There is hope that the figures may offset concern about the threat of a double-dip recession in the US.

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