Heating Oil Price Trend for April 8: +1¢
A jump in hiring last week helped drive crude and heating oil prices higher at the NYMEX on Thursday. (images: businessnewsdaily.com and Nicholas Whitaker for HeatingOil.com)
The price of crude continued its climb at the NYMEX on Thursday, spurred on by the familiar forces of an accelerating economic recovery in the US and supply worries out of Libya. A weekly jobs report released on Thursday morning showed a larger-than-expected drop in unemployment claims lent further support to the perception of a marked improvement in the US economy and potential increases in US petroleum demand. Thursday’s battles in Libya’s ongoing civil war led to a fire at an oil facility, which intensified concerns that Libyan crude exports might be shut down for several more months. On Friday morning, a looming shutdown of the US government due to a budget impasse drove down the value of the dollar, which sent oil prices higher at the NYMEX, with crude oil approaching the $112 per barrel mark.
Today’s average retail heating oil price is 1 cent higher per gallon than Thursday’s average price.
