NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices topped $79 per barrel Wednesday, despite worries the United States' economic recovery could stall.
Home prices fell flat in October, the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index revealed Tuesday.
"This year was one where many oil traders had to forget everything they believed about supply and demand ... and instead were forced to focus on the intricacies of currency exchange rates and global macro economics and the relationships therein," Phil Flynn, vice president at PFG Best, told MarketWatch.
The U.S. dollar index, measuring the greenback against a basket of currencies, was up 0.11 percent Wednesday.
The price of light, sweet crude, added 53 cents to $79.09 per barrel. Heating oil prices rose 0.0071 cents to $2.1099 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline prices added 0.0331 cents to $2.0437 per gallon. Natural gas prices slipped 0.166 cents to $5.674 per million British thermal units.
At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was $2.623 per gallon Wednesday, up from Tuesday's $2.608, AAA said.
