Commodities: Oil Prices Decline, Hit by Slowing Demand in th

January 28, 2011

Checking in on commodities, Thursday - Crude oil is down, hit by the Department of Energy data showing an unexpectedly sharp build in U.S. crude inventories, which indicates slow demand. Light sweet crude oil for March delivery declined $0.65 to $86.68. The Department of Energy said inventories jumped 4.8 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 21, compared to analyst expectations of 900,000 barrels. Dollar strength is another factor pushing the futures price down. The greenback is gaining against other currencies, especially the Japanese yen. Metals have all strengthened as the strengthened dollar indicates economic improvement in the U.S. Gold for February delivery gained $1.5 to $1334.5, while silver for delivery by March also strengthened $0.192 to $27.320. Copper for March delivery climbed $0.0385 to $4.3055. In corporate news, Brigham Exploration Company (BEXP) has priced its offering of 14,000,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $18 per share. The company plans to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund an acceleration of its drilling program on its core 161,900 net acres in the Williston Basin. The offering is scheduled to close on April 13.