Crude Oil
West Texas Intermediate fell after rising the most in six weeks. Futures for July retreated as much as 0.4%, trimming yesterday’s 1.7% gain. Crude inventories shrank by 7.23 million barrels last week to 391.3 million, Energy Information Administration data show. Supplies were forecast to remain unchanged near a record high, according to the estimates. Tensions subsided in Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin said he wanted to ease the way for a May 25 presidential election by pulling back Russian troops. WTI for July delivery slid as much as 40 cents to $103.67 per barrel in electronic trading and was at $103.81. The contract gained $1.74 to $104.07 yesterday. The volume of all futures traded was about 63 percent below the 100-day average.
Gold
Federal Reserve policy makers, weighing options for an eventual exit from extraordinary easing, said continued stimulus to push unemployment lower doesn’t risk sparking an undesirable jump in the inflation rate. With inflation expected to remain well below its 2% goal, the Federal Open Market Committee doesn’t “face a trade-off between its employment and inflation objectives, and an expansion of aggregate demand would result in further progress relative to both objectives,” according to minutes of its April 29-30 meeting released yesterday in Washington. Fed officials also discussed the need to improve their guidance on the likely path of interest rates, and they heard a staff presentation on the tools that could eventually be used to control short-term borrowing costs once policy makers decide to lift them above zero. Policy makers are watching progress toward their goal of full employment as they consider the timing of the first interest-rate increase since 2006. The Fed has said the benchmark rate is likely to stay low for a “considerable time” after it ends a bond-purchase program that’s set to wind down by late this year. Due to that the metal showed a downward movement yesterday amid the release, it recorded a low of $1,283.30 per ounce dropping from the high of $1,296.20 per ounce.
