Heating Oil Price Trend for March 9: No Change
(image: welt.de and life.com)
The price of crude oil closed at an eight-week high on Monday, and heating oil futures on NYMEX perked up as well, but gains in the market were too small to have much impact on retail prices. Expectations of economic improvement—still driven by Friday’s relatively positive jobs report—supported higher oil prices, but price increases were tempered by a stronger dollar. As the value of the dollar rises, commodities price in dollars become more expensive for traders holding other currencies, which lowers demand and puts pressure on prices to fall. The fundamentals of supply and demand still point to lower oil prices, and so far this Tuesday traders have been taking notice; this afternoon’s API report and tomorrow’s EIA report could move prices for crude and heating oil.
Today’s average retail heating oil price in the Northeast is unchanged from Monday’s average price.
