Crude Oil Closed Near Session High (USO, UHN, UNG, ITC, ANR, PETD, TSO, XOM, SU, CVX)

Published on Tuesday, 06 December 2011 15:41 Written by Paul Oldrini

New York, December 6th (TradersHuddle.com) – Crude oil futures pared all its earlier losses and closed above $101 a barrel on Tuesday as the Dollar slid in the last hour. Earlier in the session, crude oil was trading lower following Debt ratings agency Standard & Poor’s placed the sovereign ratings of 15 euro-zone countries on its lost for possible ratings cut.

Crude futures for January gained 29 cents, or 0.29%, to trade at $101.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after sliding near to $100 a barrel.

Earlier, the Dollar was trading higher which was putting additional pressure on commodities, but trimmed most of its gain in the final hour as the euro came off session low. The dollar index was trading at 78.60, from 78.654, after reaching as high as 79.

Euro-zone leaders are scheduled to meet Dec. 9 to plan a possible solution to the sovereign-debt crisis in the region.

Investors would also focus on U.S. supply reports from the American Petroleum Institute, due later Tuesday after market hours, followed by the more closely watched Energy Information Administration inventory report on Wednesday at 10.30 AM EST.

Analysts polled by Platts forecast a fall of 1.3 million barrels of U.S. commercial crude inventories for the week ending Dec. 2.

Other energy products were also trading higher. January gasoline surged 3 cents, or 1.16%, to $2.64 a gallon. January heating oil added 3 cents, or 0.9%, to $3.02 a gallon. January natural gas rose 2 cents, or 0.6%, to $3.48 per million British thermal units.

United States Oil Fund LP (ETF)  (NYSE:USO) surged 0.09 (0.23%) to $39.10. United States Heating Oil Fund, LP (NYSE:UHN) added 0.27 (0.80%) to $34.15. However, United States Natural Gas Fund, LP  (NYSE:UNG) moved higher by 0.52% to $7.67 after hitting new 52-week low of $7.57.

ITC Holdings Corp.(NYSE:ITC) slumped 4.75% to $72.46 after analyst at Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to Neutral earlier today, saying its proposed transmission merger with Entergy will be a structural overhang on profit into 2013.

Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE:ANR) slid 1.50% to $24.3 after The Justice Department confirmed that the company has been hit with a settlement of $209 million over its complicity in a mining disaster.

Petroleum Development Corporation (NASDAQ:PETD) jumped over 6% after analyst at Brean Murray started coverage on the stock with a Buy rating.

Tesoro Corporation(NYSE:TSO) slumped 5.72% to $23.41 after analyst at Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to Neutral from Outperform , a day after it held a meeting with analysts.

Shares of various oil related companies gained including Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), climbing 1.42%, Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) adding 0.72%, and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) jumping 1.75%, logging one of the best gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.