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Mix-Ansicht- Alan träumst Du noch immer von inflationsfreiem Wachtum? - XERXES, 02.03.2004, 15:21
Alan träumst Du noch immer von inflationsfreiem Wachtum?
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NEW YORK -- April crude-oil and gasoline futures settled at highs not seen since March's runup to the Iraq (news - web sites) War as concerns about tight supplies fueled bets that prices will continue higher.
The high prices have already surpassed the spike in August 2003, which led to a record-high average retail price of $1.75 a gallon for U.S. regular unleaded gasoline.
Analysts and traders expect supply and transportation problems, such as the closing of the lower Mississippi River early last week to vessel traffic, will be reflected in the weekly U.S. petroleum inventory data to be released Wednesday. The lower Mississippi River, closed from the previous weekend, was reopened Friday to traffic.
Also helping to prop prices, several refineries are conducting maintenance ahead of the seasonal switch to making summer gasoline blends.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for April delivery settled up 70 cents, or 1.9%, at $36.86 a barrel after touching a high of $36.98. That is the highest crude-oil futures have been since early in March 2003.
May crude oil rallied 94 cents, or 2.7%, to $36.18 a barrel.
Among products, April gasoline futures surged 2.12 cents, or 1.9%, to $1.1466. Front-month gasoline hasn't settled that high since March 7, 2003.
Heating-oil futures gained 0.6 cent to end at 94.79 cents a gallon.
In Caracas Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to stop supplying the U.S. if Washington interferes with the country's internal unrest or invades. The comments helped support petroleum prices at strong levels.
Also at the Nymex, April natural gas closed up 13.4 cents, or 2.5%, to $5.55 per million British thermal units.
In other commodity markets:
METALS: Precious-metals futures settled higher. April gold on the Comex division of Nymex added $2.80 to $399.60 an ounce, while May silver surged 23 cents to $6.945 an ounce. April platinum rallied $18.70 to $906.10 an ounce, while June palladium settled up $10.20 to $242.85 an ounce.
Among industrial metals, May copper jumped 5.25 cents to $1.3985 a pound.
GRAINS: Grains settled mixed, while soybeans rallied at the Chicago Board of Trade. May wheat lost 5.75 cents to end at $3.85 a bushel. May corn dipped one- quarter cent to $3.0275 a bushel. May oats rose 1.75 cents to $1.64 a bushel. May soybeans settled up 20 cents to $9.575 a bushel on persistent fears of South America's soybean crop falling short of expectations. -Terin Miller of Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this article.
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