Petroleum Futures Decline
Petroleum futures prices were lower Thursday in active trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A sharp reduction in crude oil prices by Mexico, the United States’ biggest foreign oil supplier, put pressure on the market, said Andrew Lebow, a petroleum analyst with Shearson Lehman Bros. in New York.
Mexico announced that step late Wednesday in reaction to OPEC’s failure to shore up sagging oil prices worldwide.
“The Mexico cut definitely influenced” Thursday’s activity, Lebow said. “The market is a little bit softer, led downward by gasoline,” he said.
Also pressuring the market was continued selling by traders reacting to the American Petroleum Institute’s report on U.S. gasoline supplies for the week ending July 5, released late Tuesday, he said.
The report showed that U.S. gasoline stocks and production had increased while demand had slacked off.
Precious metals were mostly lower in quiet trading on the Commodity Exchange in New York.
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