Oil Prices Pare Most Of Their Gains By The Nymex Settlement

Oil prices gave up nearly all of their earlier gains Thursday to finish modestly higher for the session. Prices had tapped highs above $49 after the Energy Information Administration reported an eighth-straight weekly drop in U.S. crude inventories, but pulled back near the end of the trading session. The supply report was bullish, but the announcement about the Trump administration's likely decision to opt out of the Paris accord on climate change "is causing profit taking," said Phil Flynn at Price Futures Group. "While most believe that the president will lay the ground work for pulling out, the time frame of when it may happen remains murky, and therefore leading to profit taking." July West Texas Intermediate crude edged up by 4 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $48.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading as high as $49.17.