Crude Gains As Yellen Calms Fears, Europe GDP In Focus

Crude oil gains on Thursday and is seen steady just below the $94.00 a barrel level after Janet Yellen, who is likely to be the next chair of the US Federal Reserve, indicated the US central bank will continue to support the economy through its stimulus measures.

She also added that the Federal Reserve needs to do more work to support the economic recovery before monetary policy should return to normal. She noted that the US economy has made progress and expressed concerns over the unemployment rate being too high.

Meanwhile, investors are waiting for the third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data later in the day. The 17-country single currency bloc is expected to grow 0.2% from 0.3% in the second quarter, which could damage the outlook for oil demand from the region.

- WTI crude oil futures for December is trading around $ 93.90 a barrel after rising $0.02

- Brent futures for December settlement is trading around $ 107.25 a barrel after rising $0.13

Investors will also pay close attention to the weekly inventory report from the US Energy Information Administration due later in the day for clues about fuel demand in the world`s biggest oil consumer. Crude inventories probably rose by 800,000 barrels to 386.2 million.

The American Petroleum Institute showed yesterday that crude supplies increased 599,000 barrels last week, gasoline inventories fell by 1.67 million barrels, while distillate, including heating oil and diesel, rose by 606,000 barrels.

Supporting oil prices was the warnings made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday saying that a “bad deal” with Iran on its nuclear program could lead to war. A new round of talks between Iran and the West is scheduled for November 20.

- Natural gas is trading at $ 3.548 per cubic feet after falling 0.50%

- Gasoline is trading at $ 2.6481 per cubic feet after rising 0.76%

- Heating oil (diesel) is trading at $ 2.8968 a gallon after falling 0.03%