West Texas
Intermediate fell from its highest settlement in almost two weeks as the U.S.
government’s partial shutdown fanned concern that economic growth may slow.
Futures
slid as much as 0.6 percent in New
York. Talks between President Barack Obama and U.S.
congressional leaders yesterday failed to break the budget logjam as the
partial government closure entered its third day. WTI jumped 2 percent
yesterday to the highest level since Sept. 20 after TransCanada Corp. said it
expects to complete work on the southern portion of its Keystone pipeline
expansion by the end of October.
WTI for
November delivery dropped as much as 65 cents to $103.45 a barrel in electronic
trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $103.69 as of 1:22 p.m. London time. The contract
yesterday advanced to $104.10 in the first gain in four days. The volume of all
futures traded was about 2 percent below the 100-day average.
Brent for
November settlement fell as much as 49 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $108.70 a
barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark
was at a premium of $5.82 to WTI, up from $5.09 yesterday, the least since
Sept. 23.
