West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed as faster-than-expected growth in the U.S. economy spurred speculation that the Federal Reserve will curb stimulus spending.

WTI for January delivery rose 2 cents to $97.22 a barrel at 9:18 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract ranged between $97.01 and $97.72, the highest intraday level since Oct. 30. The volume of all futures traded was 21 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are up 5.9 percent this year.

Brent crude for January settlement fell 48 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $111.40 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The North Sea grade was at a premium of $14.18 to WTI, after earlier dropping to $13.87, the narrowest intraday level since Nov. 21.

To contact the reporter on this story: Moming Zhou in New York at mzhou29@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net