Oil prices pushed past $41 a barrel Thursday after languishing for most of the day near $40, on hopes the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan would soon clear the Senate. Senate Democratic leaders said they hoped for passage of the legislation by Friday, and prospects appeared to hinge on agreement to a series of changes that would trim the size of a bill costing well over $920 billion. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 85 cents to settle at $41.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Commerce Department said factory orders, ranging from autos to computers, fell by 3.9 percent in December. Layoffs sent more people to unemployment lines. Cosmetics maker Estee Lauder Cos. said it would cut 2,000 employees, or 6 percent of its work force, as part of a four-year restructuring program. The government's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas inventories held in underground storage in the lower 48 states fell by 195 billion cubic feet to about 2.18 trillion cubic feet for the week ended Jan. 30. Analysts expected a drop of between 193 billion and 198 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Mike Zarembski, a senior commodity analyst at OptionsXpress Inc. in Chicago, said gas prices appear to be stabilizing somewhat which should benefit consumers. In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures rose 5.64 cents to settle at $1.2748 a gallon. Heating oil added 4.02 cents to settle at $1.3672 a gallon, while natural gas for March delivery gained 4.5 cents to settle at $4.642 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, the March Brent contract rose $2.31 to settle at $46.46 on the ICE Futures exchange.
