Heating Oil Up, Crude Hits 2009 High on Renewed Recovery Hopes

At 8:42 am EDT, the price of crude had gained 1.4 percent to reach $73.91 a barrel and the price of heating oil had risen by 1 percent.

HEAT USA Price Report

Today’s average retail heating oil price per gallon: DOWN $0.03
Morning projection (for Monday’s price per gallon): UP $0.02

A weakening dollar and rising stock markets helped lift heating oil prices and push the price of crude to its 2009 high of $73.93 a barrel this morning.  The market is awaiting more cues on the state of the US economy that will come in the form of a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at a world economic summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Although hopes for recovery are high, recent statistics show no sign of a recovery in fuel demand.  From cnbc.com: “Freight traffic across North America fell 17.9 percent in the week ended Aug. 15 from the same 2008 week, a trade group said on Thursday in a weekly report.”

HEAT USA price experts reported a small decline in retail heating oil prices today, as predicted, but forecast more price increases to take effect on Monday.