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rude oil prices shot above $60 a barrel Tuesday after three days of declines, Bloomberg reported.
Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures for August delivery closed at $60.62 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $1.70 from Monday's closing price of $58.92, Bloomberg reported.
The rise was due partly to concerns that Wednesday’s weekly inventory report by the Department of Energy would show declines in oil supplies.
Traders were also concerned over reports of Tropical Storm Emily in the eastern Atlantic, which is approaching the Caribbean and could develop into a hurricane, Bloomberg reported.
Tropical Storm Emily, the fifth named storm of the hurricane season, was about 400 miles north of the northeastern tip of South America and was on a track to reach the Caribbean by the weekend, according to the National Hurricane Center’s Web site.
Crude oil prices soared to record highs last week, with benchmark light sweet crude oil futures reaching an all-time high of $62.10 on Thursday. That followed the highest Nymex closing price ever of $61.28, last Wednesday.
Diesel and gasoline retail prices hit record highs Monday, soaring 6 and 10.2 cents to $2.408 and $2.328, respectively, DOE reported.
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