Crude oil prices lower on week

Crude oil prices were lower this week after a decline of $2.50 per barrel on Thursday on rumors, which turned out to be unfounded, that crude oil storage facilities in Louisiana, where West Texas Intermediate is stored, were full. WTI December contracts were 44 cents lower to $55.82 per barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With the December contracts expiring, January WTI volumes were higher and their price rose 12 cents to $58.69 per barrel but were down 4.6 percent over the week. Meanwhile, Brent crude for January delivery added 20 cents on the day to $58.74 per barrel but dropped 1.6 percent during the week.

In the metals markets, precious metals were lower, with gold dropping 1.1 percent on the week to $621.30 per troy ounce. Silver fell 1.5 percent over the week to $12.79 per troy ounce but consultancy GFMS predicted that a hike to $15 per troy ounce could be coming soon. Platinum was 3.4 percent lower to $1,165 per troy ounce even though demand is predicted to increase, while palladium dropped 4.5 percent to $315 per troy ounce on projections of surplus supply.

Among base metals, copper, lead, and zinc were all down but nickel added 1.1 percent over the week to $29,750 per tonne. Copper dropped 1.4 percent to $6,820 per tonne as London Metal Exchange stockpiles grew by 40 percent from mid-October. Zinc fell 5.6 percent to $4,060 per tonne, while lead was 10.7 percent lower to $1,495 per tonne.

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