Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 8/19/22

Futures were little changed in New York, down 3.2 percent for the week. U.S. production had the biggest weekly advance since June, according to Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday, offsetting the largest decline in stockpiles in almost a year. Oil processing in China fell in July, the biggest decline for that particular month in three years, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday. “Prices were unimpressed by the reported significant drop in oil inventories,” said Norbert Ruecker, head of commodities research at Julius Baer Group Ltd. in Zurich. “Instead, the market’s focus was possibly on robust U.S. output growth or the fact that the driving season and seasonal demand strength are set to ebb over the coming weeks.” U.S. crude output rose by 79,000 barrels a day to 9.5 million a day last week, the highest since July 2015, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. Stockpiles declined for a seventh week to 466.5 million barrels. Click Read More below for additional detail.

Oil prices rose on Friday after the Saudi energy minister said OPEC would need to keep coordinating supply cuts with non-member countries including Russia into 2019. Oil’s rise defied a slump in global stock markets, which fell in response to worries about a trade stand-off between the United States and China. Gold XAU=, seen as a safe haven, hit a two-week high. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $69.10 per barrel at 1136 GMT, up 19 cents but off a session high of $70. For the week, Brent was up about 4.4 percent, its strongest showing since October. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $64.57 a barrel, up 27 cents but below a session high of $65.42. On the week, WTI was up about 3.6 percent.

National Average Price for Regular – Current: $2.957; Month Ago: $2.811; Year Ago: $2.381. National Average Price for Diesel – Current: $3.213; Month Ago: $3.067; Year Ago: $2.513.