(RTTNews) - Crude oil prices continued to move higher on Monday on improved hopes for energy demand as equities continued to rise on Wall Street. Prices are up nearly $4 in the last three sessions.
Light sweet crude for November rose to $73.59 per barrel, up $1.88 on the session. Prices reached as high as $73.81 earlier in the session, the highest mark for the contract since August 24.
The dollar saw some weakness against the euro, giving back some of the modest gains from late last week. The greenback also continued to slide toward parity versus the Canadian loonie.
There is no major economic news due expected today. Traders will look ahead to some key reports later in the week, including retail sales, import and export sales and the Philly Fed index.
The Energy Information Administration's weekly inventory report will be pushed back to Thursday this week because of the government holiday today.
Last week's report showed crude oil inventories decreased by 1 million barrels in the week ended October 2. Gasoline inventories increased by 2.9 million barrels.
Oil added $1.82 per barrel last week. Oil gained 8 cents on Friday after surging $2.12 on Thursday. The International Energy Agency announced on Friday it increased its demand forecast for 2010 to 1.42 million barrels per day, an increase of 150,000 bpd from its previous forecast.
by RTT Staff Writer
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