By Nick Godt, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Oil futures fell back from a two-year high on Wednesday as investors took positions ahead of weekly supplies data and weighed odds that hard winter weather in the northeast of the United States will boost demand.
Crude for February delivery was down 23 cents at $91.26 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract on Monday hit a 26-month high of $91.88. But it still fell on the day. The day’s economic reports were mixed with an index of home prices tumbling in October and a measure of consumer confidence lower.
Still, the reports should still prove supportive for crude oil prices, boosting odds that the Federal Reserve will maintain its accommodative monetary policy, according to MFGlobal analyst Tom Pawlicki.
“Prices may advance once again, but key resistance will be offered at $93 [a barrel],” he wrote in a report.
“Support could come from short-covering, the belief that year-end inventory draw-downs are the result of stronger demand rather than year-end accounting issues, and from Monday’s positive comments on oil prices made by Kuwait.”
Kuwait’s oil minister on Monday reportedly said the global economy can withstand crude oil at $100 a barrel, dimming expectations that oil exporting nations would boost production to help ease price pressure on consumers.
The Energy Department will release its report on weekly U.S. petroleum inventories on Thursday, a day later than normal because of the holidays.
Ahead of it, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, will release its report later on Wednesday.
