WTI Oil Trades Near Three-Week High as Jobless Claims Decline

 West Texas Intermediate crude traded near the highest level in three weeks after applications for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest in almost two months in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer.

Futures were little changed in New York, heading for the first advance in seven weeks. Jobless claims fell by 21,000 to 323,000 last week, the fewest since Sept. 28, according to data from the Labor Department. The median forecast of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected 335,000. Negotiators for Iran and world powers weren’t able to reach an agreement on a first-step accord to resolve a decade-old dispute over the Persian Gulf nation’s nuclear program.

WTI for January delivery was at $95.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 23 cents at 11:36 a.m. Sydney time. The contract rose $1.59, or 1.7 percent, to $95.44 yesterday. That’s the highest close for a front-month contract since Oct. 31. The volume of all futures traded was about 83 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are up 1.5 percent this week.

Brent for January settlement climbed $2.02, or 1.9 percent, to $110.08 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The European benchmark crude ended the session at a premium of $14.64 to WTI.

Talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief, broke up yesterday after more than six hours of consultations, the EU said in a statement.

(Source: Bloomberg)