Oil prices rose today , while continuing yesterday's trend, against the background of the fact that the volume of U.S. inventories rose last week, less than expected.

Note that the data of the Department of Energy on changes in stocks in the U.S. for the last week have shown :

- Oil stocks rose 0.375 million barrels to 388.463 million barrels ( experts predict that oil reserves were increased by 1 million barrels)

- Gasoline inventories decreased by 0,345 million barrels . to 208.853 million barrels . ;

- Distillate stocks fell 4.795 million barrels . to 112.541 million barrels .

- Refining capacity utilization rate of 88.6 % versus 86.7 % a week earlier .

- Oil at the terminal in Cushing rose by 1.740 million barrels . - Up to 39.9 million reaching a peak in July

Recall that yesterday's report from the Institute of Oil API showed :

- Capacity utilization in the week 88.1 % vs. 86.9 %

- Distillate stocks fell this week to 4.91 million barrels

- Gasoline inventories for the week rose to 0.084 million barrels

- Crude oil inventories rose by 0.512 million barrels

The course of trading also affected the U.S. data , which showed that retail sales rose in October on the back of sustained growth of car purchases . But the weakness in key categories suggests that consumers are cautious in their spending in anticipation of the holiday shopping season . Sales of the country's retailers rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% compared with September , after a zero change in the previous month , the Commerce Department said on Wednesday . But with the exception of a strong automotive sector , sales increased by only 0.2 %, showing a slight decrease compared to the previous month .

Economists had predicted that total retail sales will grow by 0.1 %, while sales excluding autos to rise 0.2 %.

Total retail sales rose by 3.9 % compared with a year ago. Excluding autos and auto parts sales rose by 2.4 % compared with a year ago.

The focus of the market also remains publication of the minutes from the previous meeting of the Fed . On how the voting members of the Fed and what their thoughts are visiting during the meeting , will largely determine the future direction of the markets. However, the surprise here is probably not worth waiting for , even in spite of the fact that the participants in the recent times seems to have forgotten all about the folding of incentive programs .

The cost of the December futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose to $ 93.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

January futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture rose 66 cents to $ 107.76 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.

Gold prices fell markedly today , losing about 1 percent , due to the expectations of the publication of minutes of the last meeting of the Operations Committee on the open market, which may provide some clues regarding future monetary stimulus program . Recall that in recent years, ultrasoft , monetary policy has been a key factor driving gold prices up. But this year, the price of the precious metal fell almost 25 percent on expectations that the policy can be changed.

We also note that earlier today ( 00:00 GMT) , Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that since the beginning of the program of bond purchases by the central bank , the labor market showed " significant improvements " and that the rate of increase in interest rates is likely will remain low for an extended period of time after the purchase .

The Fed chief said that "the last FOMC decision came as a surprise to some market participants , but it strengthened the authority of the Committee. The politician added that the decline in interest rates since September, is the result of future policy.

Bernanke made ​​it clear that his views are similar to the opinion of the deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen , which she expressed at the hearing of the Senate Banking Committee on November 14.

Meanwhile , we add that the data showed that stocks SPDR Gold Trust - the world's largest gold exchange-traded fund , fell yesterday by 1.5 million tons to 863.01 million tons, thus reaching the lowest level since February 2009 .

Also today it was announced that in September China's gold production amounted to 37.642 tons , and the total production of the metal in January- September reached 307.809 tons. This was reported in the China Gold Association. Gold production in January -September in China by 6.8 % more than last year, the association added .

China, the world leader in the manufacture and import of gold, in the 3rd quarter pushed India and has become the world's largest consumer of gold . Metal consumption in China in the period amounted to 209.6 tonnes , according to a recent report by the World Gold Council .

The cost of the December gold futures on COMEX today dropped to $ 1262.90 per ounce.

GOLD 1,272.90 0.60 0.05%

OIL (WTI) 93.40 0.37 0.40%