Report Boosts Heating Oil

A report showing that distillate stocks have dropped substantially this year triggered a rally in heating oil prices Wednesday in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude oil prices were mostly higher and leaded gasoline was mostly lower. The American Petroleum Institute report released late Tuesday “showed some very positive things for heating oil and some not-so-positive things for gas,” said Peter C. Beutel, a broker at Rudolf Wolff Futures.

“Distillate stocks are 12.8% less than a year ago,” when they were at a 30-year low, he said.

Gasoline, however, was under pressure because of a drop in demand and an increase in supplies since last year, Beutel said.

Anticipation of a seasonal decline in demand after Labor Day, which signals the “pschological end of the driving season,” also discouraged buying in the gasoline pit, he said.

Continued reassessment of the Nigerian coup offset gains in crude oil prices, Beutel said.

Cattle and frozen pork belly prices fell and live hogs were mostly lower in trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.