Fog, and 31 ° F. 
NEW YORK (DTN) — New York Mercantile Exchange oil futures were mixed in pre-market trade this morning after edging up overnight, while U.S. stock futures posted modest gains ahead of U.S. Gross Domestic Product reading for the second-quarter that’s expected to show a slowdown in economic growth.
The oil and equity markets were also awaiting an economic speech later today by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that’s expected to lay out measures the Fed would take if economic growth continues to slide.
Meantime, excess oil supply and soft product demand continues to curb a further advance for oil prices while key technical support for spot-month October WTI crude held near $70 on the spot continuation chart.
The Energy Information Administration’s inventory data for the week-ended Aug. 20 was largely bearish, with crude and gasoline supplies unexpectedly soaring, while distillate supplies rose more-than-expected.
The U.S. dollar was weaker in overnight trade, boosting oil prices before turning slightly higher a short while ago.
At 8:00 AM ET on Friday, October NYMEX WTI crude futures were up 1.0cts to $73.37 after paring earlier gains. The contract hit an overnight high of $73.75, which is well off Wednesday’s 11-week low on its spot continuation chart at $70.76. October Brent futures rose 27cts to $75.29 bbl on London’s ICE Futures.
In products trade, September NYMEX No. 2 heating oil futures were up 0.12cts at $2.0104 gal after trading overnight to a high of $2.0190, well off Wednesday’s 6-1/2-week low on the spot continuation chart at $1.9256.
September NYMEX RBOB gasoline futures were up 0.42cts at $1.9127 gal after trading to an overnight high of $1.9186, and off Wednesday’s nine-month low on the spot continuation chart at $1.8241.
