Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 8/18/23

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.734215; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.137896; American Dollar to Euro = 1.088907; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.006287; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.056398.

Oil rose further above $68 a barrel briefly on Tuesday, touching its highest since May 2015, supported by OPEC-led production cuts and expectations U.S. crude inventories fell for an eighth week. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia are keeping supply limits in place in 2018, a second year of restraint, to reduce a price-denting glut of oil held in inventories. OPEC is cutting output by even more than it promised [OPEC/O] and the restraint is reducing oil stocks globally, a trend most visible in the United States, the world's largest and most transparent oil market. Click Read More below for additional information.

U.S. oil prices rose on Tuesday and gasoline fell as the gradual restart of refineries in the Gulf of Mexico that were shut by Hurricane Harvey raised demand for crude and eased fears of a fuel supply crunch. Gasoline futures RBc1 dropped 4 percent from their last close, to $1.68 per gallon, down from $2.17 on Aug. 31 and back to levels last seen before Harvey hit the U.S. Gulf Coast and its large refining industry. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures Clc1 rose more than 1 percent to $47.84 per barrel by 1008 GMT, up 55 cents from their last settlement. “Gasoline fell as refineries in Texas began to reopen,” said William O‘Loughlin, investment analyst at Rivkin Securities. Texas was edging towards recovery from the devastation of Harvey as shipping channels, oil pipelines and refineries restarted some operations.