Crude Oil Future Rise to $79

Oil rises near $79 mark on economic optimism, dollar
Natural gas stands out as futures rally 5%

Crude-oil futures rose Monday for a fourth straight session, their winning streak now the longest since October, as an upbeat report on U.S. holiday sales lifted views of the economy and energy demand.

Crude for February delivery rose 89 cents, or 1.1%, to $78.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures ended last week’s trading up nearly 5%.

Retail sales for the holiday season rose 3.6% from the year earlier period through Christmas Eve, according to a report from MasterCard Inc.’s SpendingPulse unit. Other reports this week are expected to show an improvement in U.S. consumer confidence. Read more on holiday sales.

Also helping crude, the dollar stayed lower against most major currencies, boosting dollar-denominated commodities prices as the dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0 (DXY 77.61, -0.08, -0.10%) fell 0.4% to 77.556. U.S. stocks tallied mild gains, extending their recent run to higher ground.

“A stronger equity market and a positive carryover effect from last week’s economic data are helping energy prices,” said Brian Niemiec, analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group.

“Continued violence across Iran may also be aiding crude as protesters clashed with security forces across the nation.”

By most measures, U.S. consumers’ confidence is slowly improving, although it remains far below normal levels.

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch are forecasting an increase to 54 in December from November’s 49.5 when the Conference Board releases its index of consumer confidence on Tuesday. See Economic Review.

The Labor Department reported last Thursday that initial U.S. jobless claims dropped more than expected, helping push crude up to the highest level in three weeks before financial markets closed for the long Christmas weekend.

In Iran, hundreds of thousands of people opposed to the current Iranian regime took to the streets Sunday in a reprise of the protests that followed the country’s elections in June. Iranian state television on Monday said that at least 15 people were killed.

In other energy trading, January gasoline rose 1.6% to $2.0215 a gallon and January heating oil gained 1.8% to $2.0725 a gallon. The big winer was January natural gas, which rallied 5% to $5.924 per million British thermal units.

The United States Oil Fund /quotes/comstock/13*!uso/quotes/nls/uso (USO 38.94, +0.74, +1.94%) advanced 1.9%, and the United States Natural Gas Fund /quotes/comstock/13*!ung/quotes/nls/ung (UNG 10.77, +0.45, +4.36%) gained 4.6%

Source: Market Watch