Oil Rises to Three-Month High as U.S. Passes Budget Bill
By Moming Zhou - Jan 2, 2013
Oil rose to the highest level in three months after U.S. lawmakers reached a deal to avert automatic tax increases and spending cuts that had threatened growth in the world’s biggest oil consuming country.
Futures climbed as much as 2.2 percent after the House of Representatives passed a Senate bill to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff after 11 p.m. yesterday in Washington. President Barack Obama said he will sign it into law, undoing income tax increases for more than 99 percent of U.S. households.
“The congressional action has made people feel a lot more optimistic about the U.S. economy and we are seeing a big move up for oil,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. “The big thing is that there is no tax increase for most people.”
West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose $1.47, or 1.6 percent, to $93.29 a barrel at 9:47 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange after climbing to $93.87, the highest intraday level since Sept. 19. The futures dropped 7.1 percent last year, the first decline since 2008. Trading was closed yesterday for the New Year’s Day holiday.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-01-02/oil-rises-to-three-month-high-as-u-s-passes-budget-bill.html
