Crude prices rise on earnings reports

Crude oil prices were up again Tuesday as quarterly corporate earnings report continue to come in better than had been expected and ahead of tomorrow’s weekly US inventories report from the Energy Information Administration.

While gasoline stockpiles are expected have grown last week in the US, crude oil inventories are expected to have declined by a little over two million barrels.

At around 11:30 a.m. in New York, August contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up 88 cents to $64.86 per barrel after having gone above $65 per barrel earlier in the session in the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude was last reported 96 cents higher to $67.40 per barrel.

WTI August contracts will expire later in the day.

The trend in corporate earnings as well as Monday’s report from the Conference Board that its index of leading economic indicators was 0.7 percent higher in June fed investors’ expectations that the economy is headed toward recovery.

In morning trade in New York, Nymex August gasoline futures and September heating oil futures each added 2 cents, to $1.79 per gallon and $1.74 per gallon respectively, but September natural gas was 5 cents lower to $3.79 per million British thermal units.