Chemical Guide

March futures rose as much as 0.4 percent before a Commerce Department report this week that may show U.S. gross domestic product accelerated in the fourth quarter. Industrial orders in the euro area probably gained in November, according to a Bloomberg News survey before data scheduled for today. German business confidence unexpectedly climbed to a record in January.

“The euro-zone and U.S. data continue to be important for commodity markets,” said Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne. “The market has priced in a more positive recovery in those countries than they were anticipating.”

March crude advanced as much as 52 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $89.63 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and were at $89.53 at 2:33 p.m. Singapore time. The February contract expired on Dec. 20 and closed at $88.86 a barrel. Prices fell 2.7 percent last week and are up 19 percent in the past year.

Brent crude oil for March settlement gained as much as 57 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $98.17 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It advanced $1.02, or 1.1 percent, to $97.60 on Jan. 21.

U.S. Growth

U.S. fourth-quarter gross domestic product rose at a 3.5 percent annual pace, up from a 2.6 percent rate in the previous three months, according to the median estimate of 67 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before the Jan. 28 Commerce Department report.

Industrial orders in the euro area increased 1.9 percent in November from the previous month, when they gained 1.4 percent, according to a Bloomberg News survey before a report today. The Munich-based Ifo institute said Jan. 21 that its business climate index for December, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, rose to the highest since records for a reunified Germany began in 1991.

“We are broadly bullish for commodities this year,” said Soozhana Choi, Asia head of commodities research at Deutsche Bank AG in Singapore, in a Bloomberg television interview. “We think the Fed will be successful in stimulating U.S. growth. European sovereign debt risk concerns will be contained and the fundamentals across the commodities complex look very tight.”

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators increased their net-long position 0.4 percent in crude-oil futures in the week ended Jan. 18, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Managed money bets that prices will rise, in futures and options combined, outnumbered short positions by 210,564 futures, the Washington-based regulator said in its weekly Commitments of Traders report.

Source: bloomberg.com