Crude rises on improved demand outlook

West Texas Intermediate crude rose for the first time in three days as an improved U.S. economy bolstered the demand outlook in the world’s biggest oil consumer.

Futures climbed as much as 0.7 percent in New York, extending a fifth weekly gain. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer confidence held at 81.2 this month, topping the median estimate of 80.2 in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Hedge funds were the most bullish on WTI in more than five months as a pipeline eased a U.S. supply bottleneck, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.

“There’s generally a good feel about the economy,” said Jonathan Barratt, the chief executive officer of Barratt’s Bulletin in Sydney. “Oil has held onto $100, and if prices stay above here, then it should move higher.”

WTI for March delivery increased as much as 74 cents to $101.04 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $100.68 at 1:30 p.m. Singapore time. The contract slid 5 cents to $100.30 on Feb. 14. The volume of all futures traded was about 83 percent more than the 100-day average. Prices have advanced 2.3 percent this year.

Floor trading will be closed today for the U.S. Presidents Day holiday. Electronic transactions will be booked tomorrow.

Brent for April settlement declined 2 cents at $109.06 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $8.76 to WTI for the same month, compared with $8.95 on Feb. 14.

WTI rose 0.4 percent last week to cap the longest rally in a year as cold weather boosted demand for energy. A snow storm that moved from the U.S. South to the Northeast knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, snarling traffic and canceling more than 14,000 flights.

About 25 percent of households in the Northeast use heating oil to warm their homes, according to the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s statistical arm.

Money managers increased net-long positions on WTI, or wagers on rising prices, by 11 percent in the week ended Feb. 11, according to the CFTC. So-called short bets dropped the most since March 2011 as the opening of the southern part of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline last month reduced supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for New York-traded crude futures.

Stockpiles at Cushing, also the largest U.S. oil-storage hub, fell by 2.67 million barrels to 37.6 million in the seven days through Feb. 7, EIA data show. That’s the lowest level since November.-Bloomberg