Oil rises with Wall Street, and as Saudi trims exports to Asia

Oil prices rose for the first time in three days on Wednesday, boosted by an early Wall Street rally ahead of a news conference by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, and also lifted by news of Saudi supply cuts to Asia, Reuters reported.

Oil's gains came despite government data showing a bigger-than-expected weekly build in U.S. crude and fuel inventories.

Wall Street shares rose early ahead of the speech in which Trump was expected to provide more details about his plans for the world's largest economy. Once Trump started speaking, stocks pared gains and the S&P 500 index slipped into negative territory.

Brent was up $1.42, or 2.7 percent, at $55.06 a barrel by 11:17 a.m. EST. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose $1.30, or 2.6 percent, to $52.12 per barrel.

That put both contracts on track for their biggest daily percentage gains since Dec. 1. On Tuesday, Brent and U.S. crude futures settled at their lowest levels in a month.


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