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West Texas Intermediate crude headed for the first weekly advance in almost two months as applications for unemployment in the U.S. fell and negotiators made little progress in talks with Iran in Geneva. Futures were stable in New york after the January contract rallied 1.7 percent yesterday. Jobless claims fell last week to the fewest since Sept. 28, according to Labor Department data. Iran reached no agreement on the first step of a global accord to resolve a decade-long dispute over its nuclear program. WTI may drop next week as U.S. crude stockpiles increase, a Bloomberg News survey showed. WTI for January delivery was at $95.18 a barrel in electronic trading on the NY Mercantile Exchange, down 26 cents as of 9:22 p.m. London time. It rose $1.59 to $95.44 yesterday, the highest close since Oct. 31. Prices are up about 1.3 percent this week. The volume of all futures traded was 63 percent less than the 100-day average. Brent for January settlement slid 27 cents to $109.81 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at a premium of $14.62 to WTI. The spread widened for a second day yesterday to $14.64. ICE Gasoil contract for December delivery settled at 923.25 USD on Thursday. This was 12.25 USD above Wednesday's settlement. With some 58,500 deals, the traded volume was about on average.

After having sharply climbed after the release of the DOE's bullish oil inventories data on Wednesday afternoon, yesterday morning oil futures at ICE and NYMEX initially traded in a relatively narrow range. Around noon and early in the afternoon, quotations finally kept track of their gains profiting from the extraordinarily high US oil demand, which amounts to about 20.3 mbpd in the 4-week-average according to the DOE. Moreover, oil prices benefited by the increasingly pessimistic tone of the nuke talks in Geneva. More bullish cues were provided by reports on a temporary refinery shut-down in the USA (Port Arthur). At the same time a significant drop in temperatures in large parts of the USA is expected. This might push US oil demand even higher in the coming weeks. In all, market players thus assessed the situation as rather bullish in the course of the day and in late afternoon trade raising their long positions. When oil futures breached several resistances further technical buying orders were triggered. In the course of trading the lines of the stochastic indicator crossed generating another buying signal which provided even more momentum.

The stochastic indicator gave a buying signal at NYMEX as well as at ICE charts after its lines had crossed. Even though yesterday's sharp rise is likely to have spent part of the buying signal, the stochastic indicator stays clearly bullish. Still, we assess the technical constellation "merely" as neutral to bullish this morning as the RSI is turning already at the Brent and the G.Oil chart. If the indicator fell below 70% in the course of the day, there would be a selling signal. Presumably, investors today will focus on nuke talks with Iran, however.

U.S.

Nymex bullish: After yesterday's late rise, oil markets have seen some profit taking this morning. However, the steady tendency is still intact. The traded NYMEX volume is below average for this time of day. Market players are eying the development at European markets, new signals from forex trading and today's economic indicators. Moreover, they will eye nuke talks between Iran and the 5+1 powers.

Houston (ex-wharf indications 21-11)
380cst $590
180cst $658
MGO $979

New Orleans (ex-wharf indications 21-11)
380cst $592
180cst $644
MGO $982

Singapore

Crude is bullish, gaining with WTI +1.40. Singapore paper is bullish with +$2.75 for 180cst and +$3.25 for 380cst for Nov, and for Dec 180 cst +$3.40 and 380cst +$4.25 with MGO contracts Nov +$2.10 and Dec +$2.02. The cargo market is following with 180 cst +$4.18 380cst +$4.31 and MGO +$1.51.

380cst $600
180cst $606
MGO $910

Fujairah (delivered indications 22-11)

380cst $621
180cst $668
MGO $1005

ARA (Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Antwerp)

Indications for delivered bunkers:
380cst : $577
(1.0 %) :$608
180cst: $607
(1.0 %):$ 638
MGO 0.1%S: $ 905