Oil rose

West Texas Intermediate rose as Tropical Storm Karen pushed through the Gulf of Mexico to the U.S. coast, threatening crude production in the region.

Prices gained as much as 0.9 percent. Karen will make landfall early Oct. 6 on the southeastern tip of Louisiana, according to the National Hurricane Center. BP Plc is shutting in all its oil and natural gas production in the Gulf, and LOOP LLC will suspend tanker operations at noon. The U.S. government shutdown entered a fourth day as House Speaker John Boehner said that he won’t allow the U.S. to default on its debt.

WTI for November delivery increased 58 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $103.89 a barrel at 10:58 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was about 50 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are up 1 percent this week and 13 percent this year.

Brent for November settlement gained 39 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $109.39 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. Futures were 39 percent below the 100-day average. The European benchmark was at a premium of $5.50 to WTI, compared with $5.69 yesterday.