Oil prices rise on housing data, "fiscal cliff" talks

U.S. Department of Energy

NEW YORK The price of oil rose Wednesday after President Barack Obama indicated he would cut his Christmas holiday short and head to Washington to try to work out a deal to keep the U.S. from heading over the "fiscal cliff."

The price of oil is rising sharply on higher U.S. home prices and hopes of a budget deal in Washington.

• Obama cuts Hawaii trip short to address "fiscal cliff"
• Farms could be affected by the "fiscal cliff"

U.S. benchmark crude jumped $2.31, or 2.6 percent, to $90.92 a barrel Wednesday in thin post-Christmas trading.

U.S. home prices rose in most major cities in October compared with a year ago, according to a key report. The improvement is adding to economic growth, which generally boosts energy consumption and lifts prices.
Also, President Barack Obama will return to Washington Thursday after a brief vacation to resume budget talks with Congress. Negotiations are aimed at avoiding the "fiscal cliff," the deep budget cuts and tax increases that could slow U.S. growth.

On Monday, concerns over the budget pushed down oil prices. Benchmark crude closed 5 cents lower at $88.61.

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In other energy futures trading:

- Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, rose 45 cents to $109.25 a barrel.

- Natural gas fell 3.5 cents to $3.311 per 1,000 cubic feet.

- Heating oil rose 1.5 cents to $3.0034 a gallon.

- Wholesale gasoline rose 0.8 cents to $2.7588 a gallon.

[Slop_ski]

What does OIl have to do with it? it is just non sense thank god they didnt raised prices because of the Mayan Apocalypse.

[payasyougo]

Oil price rises in anticipation of the fed printing a bunch more money in response to no cliff deal. If oil dealers thought the economy would tank w/o a deal that would drive the price of oil down due to lack of demand.
The Fed is part of the problem.