By Nick Godt, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude oil futures traded slightly lower on Wednesday, amid concern that an upcoming report will show supplies are rising.
Crude oil for October delivery recently fell 12 cents, or 0.2%, to $73.97 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Tuesday, crude oil fell in synch with stocks as U.S. traders returned from a long holiday weekend to be met by concerns over European banks and economic growth.
But markets were on a more upbeat track early Wednesday as Portugal successfully conducted a bond auction.
The American Petroleum Institute will report supply data at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its inventories report on Thursday morning. The release of the reports had been delayed because of the Labor Day holiday.
Analysts polled by Platts expect the data to show a draw of 730,000 barrels in U.S. commercial crude-oil stocks for the week ended Sept. 3.
