Crude oil rose to a record $101.32 barrel in New York as investors look to commodities as a hedge against inflation.Oil climbed 4.7 percent yesterday on speculation OPEC will cut output at a meeting next month and as the dollar fell. U.S. stockpiles probably rose 2.3 million barrels last week, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Supplies jumped 18.2 million barrels, or 6.4 percent, the previous five weeks.
`The bottom line is that major crude suppliers such as Nigeria and Venezuela are sketchy, the Fed is cutting rates and general inflation is rising,'' said Peter Beutel, president of energy consultant Cameron Hanover Inc. in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Crude oil for March delivery rose 79 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $100.80 a barrel at 2:14 p.m. after touching the record on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 74 percent from a year ago.
The March contract expires today. The more-active April contract rose 68 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $100.38 a barrel.
Brent crude for April settlement rose 51 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $99.07 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. Futures reached $99.08 a barrel, the highest since trading began in 1988.
``We should be looking at oil in the $120-to-$150 area by the end of the year without any major changes,'' said Peter Schiff, chief executive officer of Darien, Connecticut-based brokerage Euro Pacific Capital, which has $1 billion in customer accounts. ``It's not just oil; all commodities are moving higher. Soybeans are at $14 a bushel and platinum at $2,000 an ounce.''
Source: Bloomberg|By Mark Shenk
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