Crude Oil Moves Back Above $107 a Barrel (USO, UNG, BPZ, MDTR, IOC, CVX, XOM, SU, PBR)
Crude oil turned higher in the mid day session on Tuesday after falling earlier in the session with the broader markets as dollar slipped from multi-week high and retail sales came ahead of expectations.
Crude for April delivery surged 81 cents, or 0.8%, to trade at $107.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after hitting session low of $105.67 a barrel. On Monday, crude was down over 15 after China reported wider than estimated deficit In February, raising fears about the pace of economic recovery.
This morning, The U.S. Commerce Department reported that retail sales climbed 1.1% in February, with growth rates for January and December revised higher.
Elsewhere, the ZEW index in Germany rose to 22.3 from 5.4 in February, ahead of economists’ expectations of a 10.0 reading.
Now, investors would focus in Fed’s policy decision later Tuesday, where investors are expecting muted reaction on interest rate and would possible stick in providing any clues on its exit strategy from the current accommodative stance.
The American Petroleum Institute is schedule to release its weekly report on inventories later Tuesday. That precedes the more closely watched report by the Department of Energy, due Wednesday.
Elsewhere in the energy complex April gasoline surged 4 cents, or 1.10%, to $3.37 a gallon. April heating oil added 3 cents, or 1%, to $3.28 a gallon. April natural-gas futures slumped 5 cents, or 2.3%, to $2.22 per million British thermal units, near 10-year low.
United States Oil Fund LP (ETF)(NYSEARCA:USO) rose 0.76% to $41.01 and United States Natural Gas Fund, LP(NYSEARCA:UNG) fell 1.80%.
BPZ Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BPZ) shares soared 8% to $4.12 , extending its previous session rally after the analyst at Rodman & Renshaw upgraded the stock to Market Outperform from Market Perform and set a price target of $5.50.
Matador Resources Co (NYSE:MTDR) fell 0.61% to $11.42 as analyst at Jefferies & Co. initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and set a price target of $15. However, analyst at Citigroup gave the company Neutral rating with a price target of $13.
InterOil Corporation (USA)(NYSE:IOC) climbed 3.5% on conjecture regarding a well discovery in Papua New Guinea. A local publication report suggests IOC’s Triceratops-2 well hit “elevated gas readings” upon approaching the reef top and could result in the company’s biggest discovery.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) added 0.50% as the company is on track to achieve its 20% production growth target by 2017 after 2011 and stated that it is as per schedule on its view of FY 2012 capex of $32.7B, says early Marcellus well results exceed expectations, and its Gorgon LNG project is now 40% complete.
Among other notable gainers along with the crude oil, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) rose 1% to $86.40, Suncor Energy Inc. (USA)(NYSE:SU) surged .10% and Petroleo Brasileiro SA (ADR)(NYSE:PBR) gained .66%.