Oil Prices Rise with Economic Optimism

As of 8:52 am EDT, the price of crude had risen .76 percent to reach $74.71 a barrel and the price of heating oil climbed .46 percent.

HEAT USA Price Report

Today’s average retail heating oil price per gallon: Up $0.03
Morning projection (for Thursday’s average price per gallon): Up $0.02

The price of crude hit its highest point of 2009 Wednesday morning, topping $75 a barrel on confidence in a global economic recovery that would bring higher oil demand. Some investors worried that oil’s recent climb was based on hopes rather than the fundamentals of supply and demand, but others pointed to stability in US demand and growth in Chinese oil demand as concrete signs of a recovery already underway. A weak dollar helped commodities across the board, as gold hit a yearly high as well.

HEAT USA price experts report that economic optimism has driven prices of crude and heating oil up, as changes in crude’s price are passed on to the price of refined products such as heating oil. Investors await this afternoon’s inventory report from the API and tomorrow’s inventory report from the EIA for firmer data with which to gauge oil demand. Because of the Monday holiday, each report will be issued a day later than usual this week.