The Federal Reserve will hold a monetary policy meeting on Sept. 11-12, and energy markets continued to interpret Bernanke's words to mean that the U.S. central bank remains increasingly likely to act.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at USD96.41 a barrel on Monday, up 0.03%, off from a session high of USD96.50 and up from an earlier session low of USD96.31.
On Friday, Bernanke said in a speech at the Fed's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that the Fed remains ready to intervene with stimulus should the economy fail to show marked improvement.
Monetary stimulus tools tend to weaken the dollar by design, pushing down interest rates and sending commodities prices rising, especially oil, which shoots up on hopes for sustained demand that comes from a jolted economy and also due to a weaker dollar, which makes the commodity a nicely-priced asset in the eyes of investors holding other currencies.
"The costs of nontraditional policies, when considered carefully, appear manageable, implying that we should not rule out the further use of such policies if economic conditions warrant," Bernanke said in prepared remarks at his speech.
"Over the past five years, the Federal Reserve has acted to support economic growth and foster job creation, and it is important to achieve further progress, particularly in the labor market. Taking due account of the uncertainties and limits of its policy tools, the Federal Reserve will provide additional policy accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions in a context of price stability."
Bernanke's words sent crude soaring on Friday though the commodity tempered its gains in early Asian trading on Monday.
Solid factory orders in the U.S. released Friday continue to stave off profit-taking in Asian trading on Monday.
U.S. factory orders rose 2.8% in July from June, outpacing market forecasts for a gain of 1.9%.
Elsewhere in the U.S. the final reading for the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index came to 74.3 in August, up from analysts' calls for 73.6, the preliminary reading for August and also July's final reading.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for October delivery were down 0.18% and trading at USD114.67 a barrel, up USD18.26 from its U.S. counterpart.
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