American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.776232; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.157751; American Dollar to Euro = 1.206695; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.009148; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.053203.

Futures lost as much as 1.5 percent in New York. Inventories probably rose 2.9 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before a government report later Thursday. Global equities and industrial metals also dropped after an upbeat U.S. growth outlook fueled the possibility of interest-rate hikes. U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.84 million barrels in the week through Feb. 9, data from the Energy Information Administration show. While analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect a further increase in this week’s numbers, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report a decline of 907,000 barrels. Click Read More below for additional information.

The optimism for the U.S. benchmark came after Baker Hughes BHGE, -1.08% reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil was down 4 at 747 last week, breaking a three-week string of rising rig numbers. A drop in rigs implies a slowdown in drilling activity, which is usually boost oil prices. Brent also got a boost from the closure of North Sea Forties pipeline due to a power outage. “The outage of the North Sea’s most important oil and gas pipeline is continuing to lend support,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note. Click Read More below for additional information.