Now, amid all the boasting from Pittsburg and the other chat usual for a Friday, oil futures had their worst week for two months last week.
Allied with some disappointingly average economic figures from Japan, Europe and the US (they were OK, but not a further sign of the ‘bounce’).
Crude futures ended Friday’s volatile trading up slightly, rising for the first session in three after the release of mixed economic data.
But over the week oil tumbled 8.4%, the biggest weekly loss for more than nearly 10 weeks.
November crude rose 13 cents, or 0.2%, to end at $US66.20 a barrel in New York Friday, after dropping as low as $US65.05, the lowest level for a front-month contract since the end of July.
Oil fell and rose on Friday according to the flow of news on the economy: some news was good, such as consumer confidence, others poor, such as housing sales and durable goods orders, both of which were worse than forecast.
A big drop in orders for new airliners pushed total durable-goods orders down 2.4% in August, the largest decline since January. Economists had been looking for an increase.
The Commerce Department also said sales of new homes flattened out last month after four months of strong increases. That wasn’t expected either.
Goldman Sachs said Friday it was maintaining its end-of-year target for benchmark crude prices at $US85 a barrel, along with an average 2010 price forecast of $US90 a barrel and its end-of-2010 target of $US95 a barrel.
Gold fell Friday, ending the week down for the first time in six weeks as investors contemplated the mixed US economic data.
Comex December gold futures fell $US7.30, or 0.7%, to $US991.60 an ounce.
September, which rolls off this week, lost $US7.30, or 0.7%, to $US990.20.
Both contracts ended the week down 1.9% after rising 6.5% over the previous five weeks and bursting over the $US1,000 an ounce mark for the first time since last February.
The September contract rose to $US1,019.80 on September 16, an all-time high for a nearby Comex gold contract.
Comex December silver fell 23.5 cents, or 1.4%, to $US16.06 an ounce.
Copper prices rose after the dollar weakened, boosting the metal’s appeal as a hedge against inflation, and exchange-monitored inventories declined.
Comex December copper rose 3.1 cents, or 1.1%, to $US2.7405 a pound in New York on Friday.
For the week, copper eased 1.6% and that means the most-active contract has now dropped every week since August 28 after doubling this year up till then.
In London, LME three month copper rose $US30, or 0.5%, to $US5,990 a tonne ($US2.72 a pound).
Among other metals on the LME, tin, lead and zinc also rose, but nickel and aluminum fell.
In Chicago wheat fell to the lowest price in more than two years on an improved outlook for India where a record crop is now expected.
India is the world’s second largest wheat growing country and Friday saw forecasts for a 2.5% increase in 2009-10 production from last year’s 80.6 million tonnes.
The government forecast follows better rains from the Monsoon.
The news adds to downward pressure on prices with expectations of the second largest crop ever in the US (after last year’s record) and a similarly-sized global crop.
It’s why wheat prices are down 39% in the past year.
December wheat futures fell 23.25 cents, or 4.9%, Friday to $US4.4975 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade.
That converted a rise for the week up to Thursday, to a fall by the close Friday of 1.6%
The 2009-10 harvest worldwide is estimated at 663.7 million tonnes, the second most behind last year’s 682.3 million tonnes, according to the USDA.
US wheat exports have fallen as prices have fallen and supplies swelled in offshore markets.
So far there’s a 30%-plus fall in US wheat exports, according to government figures.
Even doubts about the size of the Australian crop haven’t been enough to impact prices because of the continuing reports of good growing and harvesting conditions in the US.
