Bloomberg – West Texas Intermediate rose for a fourth day after hedge funds increased bullish bets on the U.S. benchmark crude amid declining stockpiles.
Futures climbed as much as 0.6 percent in New York after capping a fourth weekly advance. WTI surpassed Brent by as much as 3 cents in intraday trading on July 19 as pipeline and rail shipments helped clear a U.S. supply bottleneck. Crude supplies have dropped by 27.1 million barrels in the three weeks ended July 12, according to the Energy Information Administration.