Oil rose in New York on speculation Europe’s economy may weather the region’s debt crisis, as equities advanced and the euro recovered against the dollar.
Futures advanced as much as 2 percent, reversing an earlier decline of 0.6 percent. Crude fell yesterday, halting a five-day rally, amid concern that the crisis is spreading to Italy and may stifle growth in the countries that use the euro. The International Energy Agency reduced forecasts for global oil demand in 2012 for a third month on weaker prospects for developed nations.
IEA Report
Global consumption will increase by 1.3 million barrels a day, or 1.5 percent, next year to 90.5 million a day, the Paris- based IEA said today in its monthly market report. The estimate was cut by a “moderate” 20,000 barrels because of lower usage expectations for the U.S. and Japan.
The U.S. Energy Department reported an unexpected decline in crude inventories yesterday. Stockpiles fell 1.37 million barrels to 338.1 million last week, according to yesterday’s report from the Energy Department. Supplies were forecast to increase 500,000 barrels, based on the median estimate of 13 analysts polled by Bloomberg News.
