Oil prices rose slightly during the day on the background of the fact that Italy's borrowing costs fell and on optimism that the European Central Bank may soon launch a program to buy bonds.

However, despite this positive trend in the beginning, the price of oil continued its decline yesterday on expectations that oil production will recover quickly from a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico Isaac. Also on such dynamics affect the published data on the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance, which did not change from the revised previous week and totaled 374,000. Prices fell by 0.9%, after it became known that the weather conditions in the Gulf of Mexico have improved, and oil platforms again soon to continue his work on oil. Recall that the storm brought Isaac to stop 95% of the units for oil and 72% natural gas. Given these data, the cost of oil has fallen below the minimum values ​​of yesterday.

October futures price of U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) on the NYMEX is now $ 94.39 per barrel.

October futures price of North Sea Brent crude oil mix is ​​now $ 112.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange.

During the session, the price of gold traded in the trading range of the previous day in anticipation of the meeting of heads of central banks at a symposium in Jackson Hole and waiting to hold another round of quantitative easing, the Fed, but fell sharply against the strengthening of the dollar, updating the yesterday's low.

Cost dragmetala rose more than 2% since the last publication of the Fed minutes on August 22, which gave hope of stimulus measures to support economic growth, which is a positive factor for gold.

However, some analysts believe gold, along with other assets, may be vulnerable if Bernanke does not meet the expectations of market participants.

Uncertainty about the central bank's actions have had a negative impact on the share price in the world and commodity prices, while nervousness ahead of the meeting reduces appetite for risk.

Any sign to hold QE will provide additional support for the euro, which is likely to continue to strengthen if the ECB will provide specific plans to help reduce borrowing costs in Spain and Italy.

Also worth noting that investment in gold exchange-traded funds rose sharply this month to almost 38 tons, thus showing the biggest monthly inflow since November.

The cost of the September gold futures on the COMEX is now 1650.7 dollars per ounce.

Change % Change Last

Oil 95.15 -0.34 -0.36%