Oil rises ahead of data supply us on signs of economic recovery

April 20, 2011, 8: 32 pm EDT by Grant Smith and Ben Sharples

April 20 (Bloomberg) - oil rose for a second day in New York before a weekly report from the U.S. Government on levels of supply, in the signs that recovery in the largest economy of the world supports fuel consumption.

Future earned as much as 1.6%, while that the dollar traded near its lowest level against the euro in a more than a year, boost the appeal of protection products against inflation. The Energy Department will publish its report today. The funded by industry American Petroleum Institute, said yesterday that gasoline inventories fell by 1.8 million barrels to 212 million. Pink European actions, with addition of 1.6% Stoxx 600. "It is generally better feeling for risk assets as equity markets rise, said Hannes Loacker, an analyst with Raiffeisen Bank AG in Vienna. "Oil fundamentals still look OK in emerging markets." However, a price of $120 to $ 130 is likely to reduce demand. The high price of oil may become the greatest risk in itself. "The oil for delivery in June as $1.71 to $109.86 barrel increased on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $109.61 at 1: 24 p.m. London time. Brent crude for the settlement of June soared $ 1.36, or 1.1%, to $122.69 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange bonus of London.Brent to benchmark U.S. restricted for a second day at $13.04 per barrel. Yesterday, crude in New York added 59 cents to $108.18, the highest settlement since April price 15.U.S. EconomyPurchases of U.S. existing homes climbed 2.5 percent in March after having dropped 9.6% in Februarya survey of Bloomberg News before the National Association of Realtors report today."A work report yesterday showed the Commerce Department began 549,000 homes at an annual rate, 7.2 percent the prior month and exceeding forecasts median 520 000 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News".The weakness of the dollar and more strong equities offset concerns over European sovereign debt and the slowdown in demand for high oil prices, "Mark Pervan, product manager of research in Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.. in Melbourne"said in a note today.The Dollar Index, a measure of currency compared to those of six U.S. business partners, have slid for a second day to 74.68, Bloomberg data showed. It fell by 5.5% since the beginning of the year. A decline of the dollar makes commodities prices in the currency of the United States more attractive for investors. The motto of the United States was at $1.4468 against the euro.StockpilesU.S to the United States. oil crude stocks barrels roses 667,000 week last 356.1 million, according to the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute. A report of the Department of energy can today show supplies increased by 1.3 million barrels of 359.3 million, according to Bloomberg News of analysts of.The Commerce Department said the work started on 549,000 homes at an annual rate, 7.2 percent the prior month and exceeding the estimated median 520 000 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The standard & poor 500 Index added 0.6 per cent to 1,312.62 4 hours near New York.Oil advanced 20 percent in New York this year. Unrest in the Middle East and the North Africa reversed the leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and extend to the Libya, Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Oman, Syria and the Yemen. Jamahiriya gross production that an average of 1.6 million barrels per day last year, has declined to 390,000 barrels per day in March, a survey of Bloomberg News producers, analysts and companies.Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has suspended his Interior Minister after protests against his election victory has killed at least six people in the largest producer of oil in Africa. Clashes between Christians and Muslims erupted for a second day in the city of North of Kaduna, Shehu Sani, head of the civil rights Congress, said on April 18.

-With the help of Christian Schmollinger at Singapore. Editors: John Buckley, Raj Rajendran

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne to Grant Smith in London bsharples@bloomberg.net to the gsmith52@bloomberg.net

To contact the responsible editor of the story: Stephen Voss on sev@bloomberg.net

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Obama signs short-term spending bill

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Obama signs short-term dealNEWbudget: President makes quick trip to Lincoln Memorial Memorial tea party "not very impressed" with budget dealA temporary measure will keep the government funded through April 15 the deal calls for $38.5 billion in spending cuts

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama of signed a short-term funding extension on Saturday hours after Democrats and Republicans narrowly averted a partial shutdown of the federal government by agreeing on the measure and a budget deal.

The new funding extension, which cuts spending by $2 billion, will last through next Friday, April 15.

The Senate immediately passed the extension on a voice vote. The House of representatives followed suit early Saturday morning.

Administration and congressional officials made clear that there would be no lapses in government funding.

In his weekly address Saturday, the president explained that the agreement meant that small businesses can get the loans they need, families can get the mortgages they applied for, "folks can visit our national parks and museums" and paychecks, including those for the military, will be delivered on time.

"This is an agreement to invest in our country's future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history," Obama said.

Behind the scenes of budget battle

The president later made at announced visit to the Lincoln Memorial, where he shook hands, and sprinted down its steps.

"I just want to say real quick that because Congress which able to settle its differences - that's why this place is open today and everybody's able to enjoy their visit," Obama said. "That's the kind of future cooperation I hope we have going forward."

Negotiators capped days of frantic-closed-door talks and public recriminations by agreeing on a framework for a package of $38.5 billion in spending cuts covering the rest of the fiscal year, which expires September 30. The budget deal still needs to pass in both houses, with the expectation that lawmakers will approve it and will the president sign it before the short-term funding measure expires.

The House is scheduled to begin considering that budget deal on Monday, with a vote slated for Wednesday. The Senate would take up the bill at some point after that, said spokesman Jon summers of Senate majority leader Harry Reid's office.

Budget deal: good news, bad news

Republicans, bolstered by their capture of the House of representatives in last November's mid-term elections, had initially pushed for $61 billion in cuts.

A GOP push to strip $317 million in federal funding from planned parenthood failed. Democrats also turned back Republican attempts to get federal dollars currently set aside for family planning and women's health turned into block grants for states.

Such a move would have given governors and state legislatures more ability to cut funding for services opposed by conservatives.

Sources told CNN, however, that leaders of the Democratic-controlled Senate agreed to hold separate votes on both measures, as well as on an initiative to repeal Obama's health care overhaul.

Obama praised the agreement, calling the cuts "painful" but necessary to secure the country's economic future.

This "is what the American people expect US to do," the president said at the White House. "That's why they sent US here."

Zakaria: Proof of broken government?

He also praised the deal as a model of bipartisan cooperation.

"Like any worthwhile compromise, both sides had to make tough decisions and give ground on issues that were important to them," he said.

"This has been a lot of discussion and a long fight," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Republicans fought to "create a better environment for job creators in our country."

Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, called the deal "difficult but important for the country."

Nevertheless, the furious down-to-the-wire talks portend even tough rounds of negotiations when Congress takes up an increase in the nation's debt ceiling and the fiscal year 2012 budget in the months ahead.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich echoed that thought Saturday. In 1995, Gingrich and Republicans controlling the Senate clashed with President Bill Clinton over the federal government, forcing a shutdown.

"It's the first big step in the right direction," said Gingrich, a possible Republican presidential candidate, of Friday night's legislation. "John Boehner got the largest spending cut in history."

If the negotiations had failed, approximately 800,000 government workers would have been furloughed. A range of government services would have come to halt.

Obama noted earlier in the week that the mechanism of shutting down government operations had already started. On inability to reach a deal would have hurt federal workers, people who rely on government services and the nation's broader economic recovery, he warned.

"For US to go backwards because Washington could not get its act together is unacceptable," the president said.

Top aides on both sides of the aisle had seemed increasingly resigned to the prospect of a shutdown. Congressional staffers started receiving their furlough notices Thursday afternoon.

Friday's agreement to slash $38.5 billion in spending comes on top of two previous funding extensions that included $10 billion in cuts.

Republicans, under pressure from the conservative tea party movement to reduce the size of government, blame Democrats for failing to pass a fiscal year 2011 budget last year when they controlled both the Senate and the House. They also say Obama and his party are ignoring the peril of rising federal deficits and the national debt.

Democrats call the $61 billion in cuts initially pushed by the Republicans extreme and argue reductions of that scale would have harmed the economic recovery while damaging education and innovation programs essential for continued growth.

The budget brinkmanship showed the political stakes of the situation, with both parties trying to depict the other as of have to do what's right for the country.

It also demonstrated the cavernous gap between the two parties on social issues.

Lawmakers react to budget deal

Democrats said the Republican drive to defund planned parenthood proves the GOP is fixated on abortion and other issues related to women's health. Republicans repeatedly insisted that the size of spending reductions which the main cause of the dispute in recent days.

Levi Russell, a spokesman for the tea party Express, told CNN the group isn't "very impressed" with the budget deal and said the agreement proves the party has a lot more work to do to ensure deeper cuts.

Planned Parenthood claimed victory for American women.

"A handful of members of Congress tried to use the debate over our nation's deficit to pursue an extreme agenda that would'nt cut millions of women off from Pap tests, breast exams and birth control - without reducing the deficit," said President Cecile Richards.CNN's Dana Bash, Deirdre Walsh, Ted Barrett, John King, Kate Bolduan, Brianna Keilar, Terry peace, Ed Henry, Dan Lothian and Tom Cohen contributed to this report

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Signs of Strain as Taliban Gird for More Fighting

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The killings, coming just as the insurgents are mobilizing for the new fighting season in Afghanistan, have unnerved many in the Taliban and have spread a climate of paranoia and distrust within the insurgent movement, the Afghans said.

Three powerful Taliban commanders were killed in February in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, well known to be the command center of the Taliban leadership, according to an Afghan businessman and a mujahedeen commander from the region with links to the Taliban. A fourth commander, a former Taliban minister, was wounded in the border town of Chaman in March, in a widely reported shooting.

There have also been several arrests in Pakistan of senior Taliban commanders, including those from Zabul and Kabul Provinces, and the shadow governor of Herat, Afghan officials said. Mullah Agha Muhammad, a brother of Mullah Baradar, the former second in command of the Taliban who was arrested by Pakistan security forces over a year ago to stop him negotiating with the Afghan government, was also detained briefly to send out the same warning, said the chief of the Afghan border police in Kandahar, Col. Abdul Razziq.

While the arrests have been conducted by Pakistan security forces, no one seems to know for sure who is behind the killings. Members of the Taliban attribute them to American spies, running Pakistani and Afghan agents, in an extension of the American campaigns that have used night raids to track down and kill scores of midlevel Taliban commanders in Afghanistan and drone strikes to kill militants with links to Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Others, including Pakistani and Afghan Parliament members from the region, say that the Pakistani intelligence agencies have long used threats, arrests and killings to control the Taliban and that they could be doing so again to maintain their influence over the insurgents.

Afghan officials in Kabul denied any involvement in attacks on the Taliban inside Pakistan, as did American and NATO military officials. “We’ve heard of infighting that reportedly has led to internal violence at several points in recent months,” one senior American military official said of the Taliban, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of discussing events in Pakistan. Military forces were not involved, he added.

Whatever the case, Taliban commanders and fighters, who used to be a common sight in parts of Quetta, have now gone underground and are not moving around openly as before. Two members of the Taliban, including a senior official, declined to talk about the issue of killings on the telephone, saying it was too dangerous. Many will not answer their phones at all.

The Taliban have been under stress since American forces doubled their presence in southern Afghanistan last year and greatly increased the number of special forces raids targeting Taliban commanders. Yet they still control a number of remote districts and in those areas the insurgents can still muster forces to storm government positions, as demonstrated by their capture of a district in Afghanistan’s eastern Nuristan Province this week.

While there is still some debate over the insurgents’ overall strength, Pakistanis with deep knowledge of the Afghan Taliban say that they have suffered heavy losses in the last year and that they are struggling in some areas to continue the fight.

“The Afghan Taliban have, I think, run into problems,” said Rustam Shah Mohmand, a former Pakistani interior minister who served as ambassador in Afghanistan after 2001 and as a peace negotiator with the Taliban.

“So many of them have been killed in the last one to one and a half years as a consequence of targeted assassinations,” he said in an interview. “That has depleted the strength, capacity and ability of the Taliban.” Commanders were without communications and resources and were struggling to find recruits to replace those killed, he said.

One Taliban commander from Kunar Province said losses had been so high that he was considering going over to the side of the Afghan government in order to get assistance for his beleaguered community. “This does not mean the Taliban will stop fighting, but maybe it will be at a reduced level,” Mr. Mohmand said.

Carlotta Gall reported from Kabul, and Islamabad, Pakistan. Employees of The New York Times contributed reporting from Kabul, and from southern Afghanistan.

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