Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 11/10/17

With demand for the fuel accelerating in September after a hurricane knocked out a swath of U.S. refining and fires eliminated processing in Europe’s hub, diesel was credited with underpinning a rally in crude. Brent jumped above $60 a barrel last month and is still on an upward trajectory. But while those refinery issues are normalizing -- and diesel is weakening -- there’s been little let-up in the rally in crude futures. They reached a more than two-year high of $64.65 a barrel on Nov. 7, and remain close to that. “This will counter the recent support to crude,” Alan Gelder, vice-president of refining, chemicals and oil markets at Wood Mackenzie, said of signs the diesel market is weaker than expected. “Particularly if demand growth turns out to be disappointing” given the importance of diesel as a source of consumption during winter months. Click Read More below for additional information.

Futures lost 0.9 percent in New York after climbing 4.1 percent in the previous three sessions. Inventories rose by 3.1 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. Energy Information Administration data Thursday is forecast to show stockpiles dropped for a third week. Global supply and demand estimates for 2018 indicate that stockpiles may not fall further, potentially capping prices, according to the International Energy Agency. “According to the IEA’s calculation, at the current level of OPEC production there will be no global stock draws next year,” said Olivier Jakob, managing director of consultants Petromatrix GmbH in Zug, Switzerland. “If the IEA is right, then markets will continue to trade in the narrow” price band seen recently. Global oil stockpiles will fall this year by 300,000 barrels a day as stronger demand and output curbs by OPEC and Russia whittle away a surplus, the IEA said Thursday in its monthly report. Still, even if the producers decide to continue with the cuts next year, surging supplies from the U.S. and elsewhere will prevent inventories dropping further. Click Read More below for additional information.

Crude oil prices gained in Asia on Monday as the impact of Hurricane Irma was not as severe as expected so far, but still packed a wallop for Florida even as its intensity was downgraded and as investors eyed China crude buying trends in the wake of a strongly stronger yuan. Hurricane Irma knocked out power to more than 2.4 million homes and businesses in Florida on Sunday, threatening millions more as it crept up the state's west coast, and full restoration of service will take weeks, local electric utilities said. But after Hurricane Irma hit Florida on Sunday morning as a dangerous Category 4 storm, the second highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, it weakened to a Category 2 with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour (177 kph). The yuan gained to its highest level since May 2016 on Monday, a boon for commodity imports priced in dolalrs that are imported into China such as crude oil. Click Read More below for more of the story.