WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil prices rose Wednesday on concerns a blast of cold weather would drive up demand for home-heating fuels and on signs gasoline demand is rebounding as the cost at the pump drops.
The U.S. government released data that showed gasoline demand over the past four weeks was up slightly compared with a year ago, reversing a trend whereby high prices appeared to be damping motor-fuel consumption.
Also supporting the market, brokers said, were forecasts calling for much lower temperatures in the coming week in the U.S. Northeast, a major consuming market for heating oil and natural gas.
"The gasoline demand destruction that people talked about was way overhyped," said oil broker Andrew Lebow of Man Financial Inc. in New York.
Still, Lebow believes the market is in the midst of a broader downtrend, and Wednesday's rally could be a short-term technical move stemming from the fact that "the market's gotten walloped in the last couple of weeks."
Light sweet crude for December delivery rose 90 cents to settle at $57.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the front-month crude contract settled at $56.98 a barrel, the lowest settlement price since the $56.50 closing price on June 30.