(RTTNews) - Crude oil prices were slightly higher, extending a yearly high on Thursday morning as traders await the Energy Information Administration's weekly inventory report.
Light sweet crude for November delivery climbed to $75.47 per barrel, up 29 cents on the session. Prices reached as high as $75.96 earlier in the morning,.
The EIA data will be released at 11 a.m. ET, a day later than normal because of Monday's holiday. Experts expect to see a build of 2.2 million barrels for the week ended October 9. Gasoline supplies are expected to climb 1.6 million barrels, while distillates are forecast to gain 1 million barrels.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude supplies declined 172,000 in the week ended October 10. Gasoline inventories fell 2.66 million barrels. The EIA and API reports move in the same direction about 75% of the time, but the API data is not as closely watched because participation in the survey is voluntary.
On the economic front, the Labor Department revealed that consumer prices rose by 0.2 percent in September, matching economists' expectations. This followed an advance of 0.4 percent in the previous month.
Compared with last year, consumer prices were down 1.3 percent.
Separately, the Labor Department also revealed that jobless claims fell to 514,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 524,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to edge down to 520,000 from the 521,000 originally reported for the previous week.
