Today the price of oil rose more than $ 1, breaking the level of $ 110 per barrel on expectations that the budget crisis in the United States will be solved, and the country will be able to avoid a recession.

The rise in prices was also supported by a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which showed a decline of oil reserves by nearly 1 million barrels last week.

The data showed that crude oil inventories fell by 964,000 barrels to a level of 371.650 million barrels in the week that ended on December 14, which was due to an increase in the processing speed of the manufacturers. Many analysts had expected the drop to be about 1.75 million barrels. Note that the current value of the stock is 14.9% higher than in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, gasoline inventories increased by 2.2 million barrels, or 1%, to reach 219.300 billion barrels, up 0.4% from last year. It was expected that gasoline supplies to increase by 2 million barrels.

It is learned that the demand for gasoline in the four weeks ended Dec. 14 was 2.9% lower than a year earlier, and the average was about 8.5 million barrels a day.

In addition, data showed that U.S. refineries operated at an average of 91.5% of the total capacity, which is 1.1% more than the previous week. Note that analysts expected that the value of the indicator will be the same.

Fuel stocks of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.1 million barrels to 117 million barrels, while expected to grow by 1.5 barrels.

January futures price of U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose to 89.15 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

January futures price of North Sea petroleum mix of mark Brent rose 90 cents to $ 109.84 a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.

Today, gold prices have stabilized, after yesterday, they fell to a three-and-a-half month low, which was due to the support of growth stocks, as well as the background of progress in the negotiations for "fiscal cliff" in the United States. At the same time, the impact on the price of gold had published German data, which was better than expected.

Note that in today's trading European shares reached a new high for the year, the euro peaked at 7.5 months versus the dollar.

Also note that this year, the precious metal is trading in line with the market share, and

seeks to capitalize on the weakness of the dollar, which makes assets cheaper for holders of other currencies.

Analysts say that the quick resolution of the financial crisis may in the long term, have a significant effect on the price of gold, as it would undermine the hope for the metal as a safe-haven asset, and will increase interest in other assets.

In addition, the weakness in gold prices in recent weeks has been called the resumption of physical purchases, and especially in Asia. According to the demand for gold in India and in China this week was above average demand, which is celebrated during this time of the year.

February futures price of gold on COMEX today rose to 1673.20 dollars per ounce.

Change % Change Last

Oil $87.90 -0.03 -0.03%

Gold $1,671.60 +0.90 +0.05%