WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday as stronger than expected U.S. retails data, and jobless claims report raised optimism about the outlook for demand. Concerns about possible supply disruptions due to the tensions in the Middle East contributed as well to the rise in oil prices.
Optimism about interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve also supported oil prices.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.18 or about 1.53% at $78.16 a barrel, rising after two straight days of losses.
Brent crude futures climbed to $81.04 a barrel, gaining $1.28 or about 1.16%.
Data from the Commerce Department showed retail sales jumped by 1% in July after edging down by a revised 0.2% in June. Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.3% compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.
Data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims fell to 227,000 in the week ended August 10th, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level of 234,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 235,000 from the 233,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday showed crude oil inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels last week after falling by 3.7 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had expected crude oil inventories to decrease by another 2.0 million barrels.
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