West Texas Intermediate crude rose for a second day on signs of accelerating economic growth in Europe and unrest in the Middle East.

Futures climbed as much as 1.3 percent. Euro-area consumer confidence increased more than economists estimated in August, the European Commission in Brussels said in a preliminary report today. Israel said it bombed a site in Lebanon today in response to the first rocket attack from that country in almost two years, adding to the turmoil gripping the Middle East.

WTI crude for October delivery climbed 95 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $105.98 a barrel at 10:40 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are down 1.4 percent this week. The volume of all futures traded was about 37 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent oil for October settlement advanced $1.04, or 0.9 percent, to $110.94 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Trading of futures was 2.4 percent below the 100-day average. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $4.96 to WTI, compared with $4.87 at yesterday’s close.

Gold rose to a two-month high against the dollar after a sharp decline the release of statistics on the U.S. housing market.

As shown by the U.S. Census Bureau, by the end of July home sales in the primary market in the U.S. were at the level of 394 thousand units annualized seasonally adjusted. The figure is well below the average forecast of analysts, which was at the level of 492 thousand value for June was revised to 455 thousand from 497 thousand

Given the revised data, housing sales in the primary market in the U.S. declined in May and July, and showed only a small increase in April and June. Despite the downward revision, sales are still 6.0% higher than the same period last year.

The pace of sales fell in all four regions of the country, with double-digit declines were observed in the Southern and Western regions.

The supply of new homes rose 4.3% to 171 thousand, which corresponds to stock up sales of 5.2 months. Last month the figure was at 4.3 months. Growth stocks and a drop in sales indicates a significant fall in demand in the market.

The cost of the October gold futures on COMEX today rose to $ 1397.40 per ounce.

Change % Change Last

GOLD 1,371.20 0.60 0.04%

OIL (WTI)  105.10 1.25 1.20%