Crude Remains Strong On Weak Dollar And Growth Outlook

Crude oil is heading towards its first weekly gain in three. The Dow Jones hit a new record high on Thursday for the third-straight day following an upbeat weekly jobless claims report ,and ahead of the key jobs data later today.

Optimism was boosted by the unexpected fall in the U.S. jobless claims improving the outlook for recovery in the world`s largest oil consumer. The rise in appetite for risk pushed the dollar lower increasing demand for dollar-denominated commodities such as oil.

- Crude is trading as of this writing around the $91.50 a barrel level, compared with the opening at $91.40 while the highest is at $91.54 and the lowest is at $91.26

Confidence is also supported by the Fed’s cheerful stress tests of biggest U.S. banks, which showed 17 out of 18 banks are in a good financial state, and the U.S. awaited jobs report as employers in the U.S. are expected to add 165 thousand jobs in February.

The outlook for oil demand also improved as Spain had a successful debt auction on Thursday while ECB’s Draghi said he expects the economy to stabilize in this year’s first half, with exports predicted to support recovery, easing concerns about the eurozone’s crisis.

In Asia, Japan’s fourth quarter GDP data showed the world’s thirds largest economy is slowly stabilizing after two quarters of contraction, while in China February’s trade numbers gave signs of a steady recovery in the world`s second-largest economy.

Brent however fell on Friday after the North Sea pipeline restarted following an unplanned shutdown on March 2 due to a platform leak. The pipeline network has a daily capacity of about 90,000 barrels, accounting for about 10% of U.K. oil production.

- Brent is trading as of this writing around the $110.97 a barrel after falling 0.16%

Economic data that will also grab the market’s attention today include Switzerland’s CPI, UK’s inflation expectations, Germany’s industrial production, Canada’s employment change and the U.S. wholesale sales.

Next week, oil prices might face some downside pressures as U.S. crude inventories might rise further on weak demand, while OPEC might increase shipments starting this month in anticipation of a rebound in demand as refiners in the U.S. and Europe finish maintenance.

- Natural gas is trading as of this writing at $3.593 per 1,000 cubic feet after rising 0.36%

- Heating oil is trading at $2.9747 a gallon after falling 0.16%

- Gasoline is trading as of this writing at $3.1321 a gallon after rising 0.28%