Oil rose for a fourth day on speculation that the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve will ease monetary policy to boost economic growth.

Prices gained as much 0.9 percent as the ECB and Fed officials indicated that they’re considering stimulus measures before meetings scheduled for next week. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said they will do “everything” necessary to protect the euro.

The ECB is preparing to buy bonds in the secondary market, followed by purchases in the primary market by government-funded bailout funds, Le Monde reported. The comments by Merkel and Hollande echoed a statement yesterday by ECB President Mario Draghi. He pledged that the euro will survive.

Germany and France are “bound by the deepest duty” to keep the euro area intact, Merkel and Hollande said in a joint statement after a telephone conference call today. The 17 members of the euro and other institutions must fulfill their commitments within their own areas of competence.

The Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee will consider the need for more stimulus at a two-day meeting that concludes Aug. 1. The ECB’s Governing Council meeting in Frankfurt the next day will gauge the effect of their July decision to cut the benchmark interest rate to a record low of 0.75 percent.

Prices reduced gains after the Commerce Department reported U.S. gross domestic product rose at a 1.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter from a revised 2 percent gain in the prior quarter. It was the slowest pace of expansion since the third quarter of 2011. The median forecast of economists called for a 1.4 percent increase.

Confidence among U.S. consumers dropped in July to the lowest level this year. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of sentiment declined to 72.3 this month from 73.2 in June. The gauge was projected to hold at the preliminary reading of 72.

The cost of the September futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) on the NYMEX is now at $ 90.02 a barrel.

September futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture increased to $ 106.21 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange.

Gold climbed to a five-week high on speculation that central banks around the world will take further steps to spur growth.

The U.S. economy expanded 1.5 percent in the second quarter, slower than the 2 percent gain in the first three months of the year, as a softening job market prompted Americans to curb spending, Commerce Department figures showed today. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was a 1.4 percent increase. Yesterday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers will do whatever is needed to save the euro. Gold is headed for the biggest weekly rally in two months.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week that U.S. policy makers are “looking for ways to address the weakness in the economy should more action be needed to promote a sustained recovery in the labor market.”

Bullion surged 70 percent from the end of December 2008 to June 2011 as the Fed kept borrowing costs at a record low and bought $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of so-called quantitative easing. Policy makers are scheduled to announce a rate decision on Aug. 1.

The cost of the August gold futures on the COMEXis now 1616.1 dollars per ounce.

Change % Change Last

Gold 1,582 +11 +0.68%

Oil 92.30 +2.43 +2.70%