Oil, grains rise as economic reports improve

-Better news on the economy sent prices for oil and other commodities mostly higher Thursday.

The Commerce Department reported that consumers spent more in November than the month before. Also the Labor Department said the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell by 3,000 last week.

Crude oil for January delivery rose $1.03 to settle at $91.51 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Even though prices of oil and gasoline have been rising, natural gas has been falling and is down 11 percent over the past two weeks. On Thursday natural gas lost 6.9 cents to settle at $4.083 per 1,000 cubic feet on the Nymex.

Heating oil rose 1.23 cents to settle at $2.5408 per gallon and gasoline gained 1.81 cents to settle at $2.4426 per gallon.

Grains and other agricultural commodities mostly rose. Corn for March delivery rose 5 cents to settle at $6.14 a bushel. Soybeans for January delivery rose 20.75 cents to $13.495 a bushel. March wheat fell half a cent to $7.83 a bushel.

Most metals settled lower. Gold for February delivery gave up $6.90 to settle at $1,380.50 an ounce. Silver fell 5.7 cents to $29.328 an ounce. Platinum lost $7.80 to $1,723.10 an ounce and palladium rose $2.95 to $758.10 an ounce.