Investing.com – Crude oil futures climbed to a two-week high on Tuesday, erasing earlier losses after dovish comments from Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans fuelled speculation over additional stimulus to bolster U.S. economic growth.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at USD88.08 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, jumping 0.74%.
It earlier rose as much as 1.1% to trade at USD88.23 a barrel, the highest price since August 17.
Chicago Fed President Evans said earlier that the central bank should consider introducing further easing measures unless the economy shows “significant” improvement.
Evans said that the Fed’s bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing “needs to stay in place until unemployment drops below 7% or if inflation gets past 3%”.
"I think we need to do more. Strong accommodation needs to be in place for a substantial period of time," Evans added.
The dovish comments came ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s August 9 policy setting meeting later in the day.
Investors hope the minutes will provide clues regarding further easing measures after Fed Chair Ben Bernanke said Friday that there was no need for an immediate round of additional economic stimulus but left options open.
Markets were also awaiting fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of oil demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show stockpiles climbed by 0.9 million barrels last week, while gasoline stockpiles were projected to fall by 0.9 million barrels.
Crude’s earlier losses came as a broadly stronger U.S. dollar weighed on prices.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for October delivery rose 0.73% to trade at USD112.97 a barrel, up USD24.89 on its U.S. counterpart.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at USD88.08 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, jumping 0.74%.
It earlier rose as much as 1.1% to trade at USD88.23 a barrel, the highest price since August 17.
Chicago Fed President Evans said earlier that the central bank should consider introducing further easing measures unless the economy shows “significant” improvement.
Evans said that the Fed’s bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing “needs to stay in place until unemployment drops below 7% or if inflation gets past 3%”.
"I think we need to do more. Strong accommodation needs to be in place for a substantial period of time," Evans added.
The dovish comments came ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s August 9 policy setting meeting later in the day.
Investors hope the minutes will provide clues regarding further easing measures after Fed Chair Ben Bernanke said Friday that there was no need for an immediate round of additional economic stimulus but left options open.
Markets were also awaiting fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of oil demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show stockpiles climbed by 0.9 million barrels last week, while gasoline stockpiles were projected to fall by 0.9 million barrels.
Crude’s earlier losses came as a broadly stronger U.S. dollar weighed on prices.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for October delivery rose 0.73% to trade at USD112.97 a barrel, up USD24.89 on its U.S. counterpart.