West Texas Intermediate crude dropped, heading for a second monthly decline, as OPEC kept its output target unchanged for a third consecutive time and U.S. inventories climbed to the highest level in 82 years.

Futures fell as much as 1.5 percent after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries maintained its target of 30 million barrels a day at a meeting in Vienna today. Ministers from the 12-member group will next gather on Dec. 4. U.S. crude supplies increased 3 million barrels to 397.6 million last week, the most since 1931, a government report showed yesterday.

OPEC has no formal target for prices, the group’s Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said at a news conference in Vienna after the ministers’ meeting.

Most member states also expressed their support for $100 oil. Some, including Venezuela, voiced concern over excessive production by other members, with OPEC pumping about 1 million barrels a day more than the informal target.

U.S. crude production rose 34,000 barrels a day to 7.29 million last week, the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s statistical arm, reported yesterday. Output reached 7.37 million barrels a day in the week ended May 3, the most since February 1992. Production has surged as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have unlocked supplies trapped in shale formations in the central U.S.

Prices also dropped as the dollar rallied on better-than-forecast reports on U.S. business activity and consumer confidence. The Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against six others, rose as much as 0.7 percent to 83.597. The U.S. currency climbed as much as 0.8 percent against the euro, reducing the appeal of raw materials as an investment.

WTI crude for July delivery declined $1.06, or 1.1 percent, to $92.55 a barrel at 11:10 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 38 percent below the 100-day average for this time of day. Prices are down 1.7 percent this week and 1 percent this month.

Brent oil for July settlement dropped $1.22, or 1.2 percent, to $100.97 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume for all contracts was 16 percent lower than the 100-day average.

Gold prices down on stronger dollar and weak euro.

Data released today showed that unemployment in the euro zone rose in April to a new record high, while consumer price inflation remained muted in May - a combination that adds pressure on the European Central Bank, forcing the focus on policy and stimulate economic growth, easing measures austerity.

The unemployment rate in the euro area rose to 12.2% in April, the highest figure since records began in 1995 statistics. Recall that in March, the unemployment rate was at around 12.1%. The figures in line with expectations, confirming that consumers and businesses continue to struggle against the long period of austerity. European statistical agency Eurostat has also published a preliminary assessment of consumer price inflation in May at 1.4% compared with the same month in 2012. This compares with an increase of 1.2% in April, which was the lowest inflation rate in three years.

From the beginning, gold fell by nearly 16 percent, and prices will drop in May, the second month in a row.

Stocks of the world's largest exchange-traded fund backed by gold (ETF) SPDR Gold Trust rose for the first time on Wednesday, May 9 to 1.013,15 tons, but still close to a minimum of four years, as investors prefer higher yielding stocks.

The cost of the June gold futures on COMEX today dropped to 1389.00 dollars an ounce.

Change % Change Last

GOLD 1,412.60 21.30 1.53%

OIL (WTI) 93.64 0.51 0.55%