Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 7/17/20

Futures in New York slid 0.3 percent after closing at the highest since Feb. 5 on Monday as crude exports from a key Libyan terminal were disrupted. The focus now shifts to U.S. stockpiles, which are forecast to have risen last week. While they increased in three of the past four weeks, the pace of gains slowed, allaying fears that American supply will undermine OPEC’s output curbs. U.S. inventories probably rose by 2 million barrels last week, following a surprise drop in the previous week, according to a Bloomberg survey before Energy Information Administration data due Wednesday. The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. has risen for five consecutive weeks to the highest in almost three years, Baker Hughes data show. Click Read More below for additional information.

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.764624; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.151289; American Dollar to Euro = 1.186918; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.009679; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.048093.

“The U.S. oil rig count, a key indicator for trader sentiment, exhibited a rather large weekly decline,” said analysts at consultants JBC Energy GmbH in Vienna. “At least in the short term, this dynamic should help protect the downside to crude prices. The more pressing question may be how much higher prices can climb before the gravitational forces of global supply and demand can start to form an upper limit.” West Texas Intermediate for October delivery rose as much as 44 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $50.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and traded for $49.91 at 10:43 a.m. London time. On Sept. 14, it reached $50.50, the highest since May 25. Total volume traded was about 26 percent below the 100-day average. Click Read More below for additional detail.