MW: Crude-oil futures turn lower, trade below $77 a barrel
Natural gas holds on to gains as traders await inventories report
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Crude-oil turned lower Thursday after a flurry of macroeconomic data painted a mixed view of the U.S. economy.
Crude oil for August delivery lost 65 cents, or 0.8%, to $76.41 a barrel. Traders also paid attention to the U.S. stock market, which opened slightly lower and kept losses in early trading.
Industrial production rose 0.1% in June, beating expectations of a decline. But New York manufacturing expanded in July, but at a much slower pace than previous months, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said.
U.S. wholesale prices fell 0.5% in June, the largest decline since February, led by food prices, the Labor Department reported. The core price index, which excludes energy and food prices, rose 0.1%.
A brighter spot came from the all-important labor market. Fewer workers filed jobless claims last week, surpassing expectations. The Labor Department said the number decreased by 29,000 to 429,000, the lowest level since August 23, 2008, just as the height of the credit crisis approached.
Meanwhile, the dollar index (DXY 82.65, -0.77, -0.93%) , which compares the U.S. unit to a basket of six currencies, was off 0.9% at 82.865.
A weaker dollar usually bolsters dollar-denominated commodities as it makes them less costly to those holding other currencies.
Oil futures has a last-minute reversal on Wednesday, falling after minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting had Fed officials downgrading their view of the economy.
Other energy products also reversed lower on Thursday, with reformulated gasoline for August delivery losing a penny, or 0.3%, to $2.06 a gallon.
August natural gas added a penny, or 0.2%, to $4.32 per million British thermal units. The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its report on natural gas inventories at 10:30 a.m. Eastern on Thursday.
Analysts polled by Platts expect an increase of 78 to 82 billion cubic feet to stockpiles. An increase along this forecast would be smaller than the 88 billion cubic feet increase in the same week in 2009 and the five-year average of 89 billion cubic feet.
