On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for February delivery added 0.15% to USD91.95 per barrel in Asian trading Wednesday. The gain homes on the heels of 0.52% pop in Monday’s U.S. session, though West Texas Intermediate futures finished with an annual loss.
Oil futures rose on Monday on the mere hopes of a fiscal cliff agreement, but a more significant catalyst may be in place now that the U.S. House plans to vote on legislation previously passed by the Senate to dodge the fiscal cliff. The vote is expected late Tuesday night in the U.S.
Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives were uneasy about being forced to accept tax increases on the wealthiest Americans in an effort to bring a conclusion to the fiscal cliff debate.
The U.S. Senate has approved a measure that would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans by $620 billion over the next 10 years. House Republicans, long reluctant to approve tax hikes of any kind, are looking for $330 billion in spending reductions over the same time as a means of coming to terms with the tax increases. The House is controlled by the Republicans while the Democrats hold a majority in the Senate.
For its part, the Senate said it would not accept any alterations to its cliff package, which passed early Tuesday morning with ease at 89-8, indicating broad bipartisan support for the bill, a rarity in U.S. politics.
Knowing that he probably lacked the votes to press for more spending cuts, House Speak John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, has been forced to send the Senate measure to the House to avert the cliff. The Senate bill raises taxes on the wealthiest Americans by $620 billion over the next 10 years.
Elsewhere, Brent crude for February delivery jumped 0.27% to USD111.58 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange. - Investing.com
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