Crude oil continued its fall, heading for its worst year since 2008 amid speculation that reports of U.S. stockpiles today will fuel concern over a global supply glut. Asian stocks climbed while nickel and aluminum gained.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.2 percent to $53.49 a barrel by 1:32 p.m. in Hong Kong, slipping for the fourth time in five days to trade near a five-year low. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index increased 0.4 percent while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures advanced 0.2 percent. Nickel rose 0.2 percent and aluminum climbed 0.5 percent, paring its biggest monthly loss since June 2013. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fluctuated, trimming its 2014 advance to 10.7 percent.
Supply Glut
Crude’s 45 percent drop this year, spurred by the largest U.S. output in three decades and OPEC’s refusal to cut production, has rocked international markets. It fueled the dollar’s best annual gain since at least 2004 as Americans boosted spending, helped China’s stock market rally and hammered energy-producing nations including Russia, whose ruble had its steepest annual retreat since 1998.
WTI fell today after gaining 1 percent last session, when Brent crude rose less than 0.1 percent to $57.88 a barrel in London. U.S. oil inventories probably rose by 900,000 barrels to 388.1 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey of energy analysts before today’s Energy Information Administration report. Analysts predict the report will show U.S. supplies rose last week to a record level for the period in data going back to 1982.