Oil approaches $77 in early trade

16 July 2010

Written by John King

Crude oil prices were climbing towards $77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (July 16th), erasing yesterday's losses as equity markets rallied and the euro gained.

Following strong earnings reports from JPMorgan yesterday, the European equities market opened higher this morning and helped to erase early losses in crude and heating oil to send both commodities higher.

Meanwhile, a stronger euro also helped to increase appetite for dollar-priced commodities such as crude and heating oil.

Oil prices are on course for a 0.8 per cent increase this week, following on from last week's gains of 5.5 per cent.

However, a poll conducted by Bloomberg revealed concerns about the sustainability of the rally.

Of the 33 analysts questioned, only eight predicted that crude will continue to rise through to July 23rd.

Some 39 per cent expected a decline in crude prices by the close of trading next week, while 36 per cent said prices will be little changed.