(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil snapped its three-day winning streak, easing below $75 Friday morning.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for July delivery were down $0.55 to $74.93 a barrel. Crude surged to a three-week high Thursday after the EIA revised up its global oil growth demand forecast.
A day after reporting encouraging trade data, China today said its industrial production expanded 16.5% in May from a year ago, compared to a 17.8% growth recorded in April. Economists were expecting China to record 17.0% growth in May.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar continued to level off from its 4-year high versus the euro. The greenback was trading firm against the British pound and the yen..
Traders will look to the retail sales data from the U.S. Commerce Department, due out 8.30 a.m ET. Economists expect that retail sales increased 0.2% for the month following the 0.4% gain in the previous month, while retail sales, excluding autos, rose by 0.1% during May. The Department will release results of business inventories for April. Economists expect the business inventories increased 0.5% during the month, following the 0.4% rise in March.
Also, the the results of the University of Michigan's survey of consumer sentiment index for June will be eyed. Economists expect that the index advanced to 74.5 from 73.6 reported in the previous month.
