* Economic data helps push crude prices to 26-month peak
* Colder forecasts further out lift heating fuel futures
* Coming up: API weekly oil data at 4:30 p.m. EST Tuesday
(Recasts; updates prices and market activity)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Oil jumped 1 percent to a
26-month high above $92 a barrel on Monday as upbeat European
and U.S. manufacturing data and forecasts for cold weather
stoked energy demand expectations.
Manufacturing in the United States and Europe accelerated
in December and growth in China and India slowed to a more
sustainable level, helping to fuel a move by investors into
riskier assets. []
U.S. crude oil for February delivery <CLc1> rose 75 cents
to $92.13 a barrel at 1:23 p.m. EST (1823 GMT), having reached
$92.58, its highest price since October 2008.
In London, ICE Brent crude for February <LCOc1> rose 68
cents to $95.43 a barrel.
U.S. heating oil <HOc1> and front-month ICE gas oil futures
led the oil futures complex higher, supported by expectations
more freezing weather will arrive later in January.
U.S. crude oil futures were building on their end-of-year
rally that left prices up 15 percent on the year.
Total U.S. crude futures trading volume, thinned by the
holiday season, was above 265,000 lots in afternoon trading in
New York. The 30-day average was 543,282.
"Heating oil strength is on the colder forecasts further
out, and on top of that crude is being supported by the strong
manufacturing data," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest
Research in Chicago.
Total U.S. heating demand this week was expected to be only
0.5 percent above normal, the U.S. National Weather Service
said, and heating oil demand was expected to average 4.3
percent below normal. []
But looking further out, the NWS' six- to 10-day and eight-
to 14-day outlook issued Sunday called for below-normal or
much-below-normal readings for the entire nation.
Temperatures in northern Europe also were forecast to be
near to below normal in the six- to 10-day outlooks, according
to private forecaster DTN Meteorlogix. []
The fresh batch of encouraging economic data helped lift
U.S. equities, pushing all three major indexes up more than 1
percent to start the new year. []
U.S. manufacturing grew for a 17th straight month in
December, an Institute for Supply Management report showed on
Monday. The report showed new orders rose, suggesting momentum
for growth even though factory sector employment slipped to a
nine-month low. [] []
U.S. construction spending rose more than expected in
November to touch its highest level in five months, a separate
report from the Commerce Department showed. []
Prior to the U.S. reports, investors received news that the
official Chinese purchasing managers' index edged down to 53.9
in December from November's 55.2, easing fears of more efforts
by China's government to cool off its economy. []
The Markit Eurozone PMI, which records manufacturing
activity across the major euro-area economies, rose in December
from November, revised higher from a preliminary reading and
near April's 46-month high. [] []
U.S. CRUDE IN CONTANGO
U.S. crude futures remained in a stubborn contango, whereby
prompt oil is cheaper than barrels for later delivery, a market
condition that encourages storage. The spread between
front-month February and March crude futures <CL-1=R> had the
premium for March crude as high as $1 intraday on Monday.
Traders, however, said there was momentum to move higher as
new money was expected to enter the market at the start of the
year.
Prices could still falter before the next push higher,
possibly correcting to $83.85 per barrel, based on a wave
pattern and a channel technique, according to Wang Tao, Reuters
market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
[]
(Additional reporting by Eileen Moustakis in New York, Barbara
Lewis in London and Jennifer Tan in Singapore; editing by Jim
Marshall)
