Midday Market Update: Mixed News Puts Trading in a Narrow Range | Page 2 of 2 | ETF Trends

Crude oil continued its gains as the volatile commodity went north of $72/barrel at a point in intraday trading. This recent uptrend has been fueled by a weakening dollar, OPEC’s decision to maintain production levels and a report released by the International Energy Agency which indicated that the slump in demand for crude will be less sever in 2009 than previously though. As a result, the United States Oil Fund (NYSE: USO) was up 0.7% in morning trading.

Overall, the markets remained mixed with the Nasdaq adding 0.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.1% and the S&P 500 declining by 0.2%.

For more stories on oil, visit our oil category.

Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.