U.S. oil prices settle at their highest in a week

Oil futures climbed on Wednesday, with U.S. prices marking their highest settlement in a week. There’s “no other way to look at energy prices today and not have a bullish outlook,” said Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors. The Energy Information Administration reported much larger inventory draws across the board, he said, with U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate supplies all down last week. “We do feel we could see crude regain the $100 level in the days and weeks to come,” said Zahir. September West Texas Intermediate crude CLU22, +1.74% rose $2.28, or 2.4%, to settle at $97.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest front-month finish since July 20, FactSet data show. Prices held onto the bulk of their gains after the Federal Reserve said Wednesday afternoon that it would raise its benchmark short-term rate by another 0.75 percentage point.