Oil, other commodities rise following budget deal
Prices for crude oil, other commodities rise as investors embrace risk following budget deal
Prices for crude oil and most other commodities rose Wednesday after lawmakers cobbled together a last-minute budget agreement in Washington.
Most energy products were higher.
Commodities followed the stock market up after Congress passed a budget plan that would avert sweeping tax increases and cuts to government spending. That set off a rally in stocks and encouraged investors to shift money into other higher-risk assets like commodities. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 308 points, its biggest gain since December 2011.
Benchmark crude for February delivery rose $1.30 to finish the first trading day of the year at $93.12 a barrel. It went as high as $93.87 a barrel earlier in the session.
Precious metals also rose broadly. Gold gained $13 to $1,688.80 an ounce, an increase of nearly 1 percent. Silver rose even more. The March contract jumped 78 cents to $31.007 an ounce, a rise of 2.6 percent.
April platinum increased $25.60 to $1,568 an ounce. March palladium rose $4.60 to $707.95 an ounce.
Agricultural futures mostly fell. Wheat for March delivery lost 22.75 cents to $7.5525 a bushel. March corn fell 7.5 cents to $6.9075 a bushel and March soybeans fell 17.25 cents to $13.9225 a bushel.
In other energy futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, wholesale gasoline rose 3.34 cents to finish at $2.7951 a gallon. Heating oil added 1.45 cents to end at $3.0463 a gallon. Natural gas fell 11.8 cents to finish at $3.2330 per 1,000 cubic feet.
