RTTN: Crude Eases Near $103 Ahead Of Weekly Jobs Data
(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil moved down Thursday morning amid renewed worries over the euro zone debt situation. Also, a steady U.S. dollar weighed on oil prices.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for April delivery were down $1.07 to $103.31 a barrel. Yesterday, oil edged down after official data revealed crude inventories piled up last week.
Wednesday during trading hours, the EIA said U.S. crude oil inventories moved up by 2.5 million barrels, while gasoline inventories dipped by 5.5 million barrels in the week ended March 04. Analysts were expecting crude oil inventories to rise by 1 million barrels and gasoline stocks to dip by 1.5 million barrels last week.
Earlier today, China reported a surprise trade deficit in February as surging commodities prices escalated its import bill.
Elsewhere, rating agency Moody's Investor Services has downgraded its credit rating on Spain by one notch to Aa2, citing worries over the cost of the banking sector's restructuring, the government's ability to achieve its borrowing reduction targets and grim economic growth prospects
This morning, the U.S. dollar continued to level off from its 4-month low versus the euro and ticking higher against sterling. The buck was trading firm versus the Swiss franc and the yen.
Among economic releases, the U.S. Labor Department will come out with its weekly jobless claims report at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect the claims to increase to 385,000 in the week ended March 5.
Also, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its trade balance report for January. Economists expect the deficit to widen to $41 billion.
