Positive data boosted oil prices up 3.1% to $86.80 on Friday

On the morning of October 15th, Beijing time, on Friday, the US retail sales data for September was positive, rekindling the market’s hope for accelerating economic growth, and also increasing the outlook for future demand for crude oil. The US stock index and various commodity markets were steadily rising. . The main crude oil contract rose to close at $86.80 a barrel.

The main crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange in November rose 2.57 US dollars Friday to close at 86.80 US dollars a barrel, an increase of 3.1%. This is the highest closing price of the main contract since September 20. Crude oil prices have risen 4.6% this week.

The data released by the US Department of Commerce on Friday showed that the quarterly adjustment of retail sales in September was an increase of 1.1%, of which sales of automobiles, clothing and furniture all increased significantly. The September increase in retail sales was also the highest value for the indicator for seven months. Matt Smith, an analyst at Schmidt Energy of Schneider Electric, points out that "the retail sales data is a pinch for the entire market, and it even makes us forget about the lack of consumer confidence index at the beginning of October. ."

Matt Smith stressed that “people have begun to piece together clues and found that consumer spending is beginning to increase, and the consumer-level momentum is good, which means more crude oil consumption.” He pointed out in the report, “With more healthy With economic growth, people also expect crude oil consumption to keep pace."

The favorable retail sales data also strongly promoted the major indexes of the US stock market on that day. The major indexes of US stocks were opened higher by the search engine giant Google, which was far better than the strong expectations of the market, and maintained the upward trend. Near the close of the crude oil market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 1%.

The US stock market is often viewed as a barometer of the economic outlook and is also a good indicator of future demand for energy products. Crude oil prices are also seen as a benchmark for price movements. In recent months, oil prices and the US stock index have been positively interacting. The weaker trend of the US stock index on Thursday led to a slight decrease in the prices of crude oil and other energy products on that day.

On the other hand, the U.S. dollar exchange rate continued to decline on Friday. The market continues to be optimistic that the leaders of European countries will soon be proposing solutions to the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis. The exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar continues to maintain its advantage. The US dollar index tracking a basket of six major currencies is approaching 76.768 points when it approaches the energy market. The decrease was close to 0.4%. The weaker dollar has reduced the holding costs of dollar-denominated commodities, which has increased their attractiveness to investment. It is a good factor for the prices of a variety of commodities, including crude oil.

In terms of other energy products, November formula gasoline rose 7 cents on Friday to close at 2.82 US dollars per gallon, up 2.4%, up 6.4% over the week; November distillate fuel oil rose 8 cents to 3.06 dollars per gallon The gain was 2.8% on Friday and the gain was 7% for the week.

The November natural gas contract rose 17 cents on Friday to $3.70 per million British thermal units, or 4.9%, and this week's cumulative increase was 6.3%.