NYMEX November crude futures settled $1.87 higher at $91.85/barrel Thursday, while RBOB futures surged for a second session, on hopes of further monetary stimulus from China and the Spanish government's move to approve austerity measures.
ICE November Brent settled $1.97 higher at $112.01/barrel.
The price action took the front-month Brent/WTI spread to $20.16/b, up marginally from Wednesday.
"The market sold off sharply the last few days so now we are seeing some covering and a bounce on expectations that China will announce some stimulus, although I haven't seen [anything concrete] on that yet," said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy. "The market is trying to stabilize."
Despite the rally during the session, macroeconomic data appeared bearish as second quarter US GDP grew at a slower pace, 1.3%, than the prior estimate of 1.7%, according to the Commerce Department.
Also, US durable goods orders fell 13.2% in August on a drop in commercial aircraft bookings, marking the largest drop since January 2009.
Data on unemployment, however, proved bullish, as US initial claims for unemployment fell 26,000 to 359,000 in the week to September 22 -- the lowest level since July.
In products, NYMEX October RBOB settled 6.32 cents higher at $3.1443/gal after gaining more than 12 cents at one point during the session to a five-month high for the front month contract of $3.2086/gal. October heating oil settled 5.05 cents higher at $3.1573/gal.
Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas, said there did not appear to be any new factors on Thursday to drive RBOB higher, rather that the broader energy complex was rebounding after the selloff of the past two days."
"It is case of crude oil rallying and lifting oil products in its wake," Tchilinguirian said.
RBOB has been on an upswing amid refinery problems in recent weeks while inventories in the US, particularly on the Atlantic Coast, remain tight.
The continued supply tightness was evident in the steepening backwardation in the front of the NYMEX RBOB futures curve, which rose to more than 26 cents/gal during the session.
The October/November backwardation settled at 24.71 cents/gal -- the widest backwardation since September 2005.
