(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was little changed Tuesday morning ahead of today's economic data from the U.S.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for June delivery edged up $0.02 to $97.39 a barrel.
This morning, the U.S. dollar continued to level off from its one-month high versus the euro and extending losses against sterling amid UK inflation report. The buck was paring previous session's losses versus the Swiss franc and moved up to a 2-week high against the yen.
UK annual inflation came in above expectations in April driven by transport costs. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the consumer price index increased 4.5 percent, after rising 4 percent in March. Economists were looking for a figure of 4.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the ZEW indicator of Germany's economic sentiment dropped to 3.1 from 7.6 in April, the Centre for European Economic Research said. Economists were looking for a reading of 4.5. The latest score is below the indicator's historical average of 26.5.
Traders will look to the data on housing starts and building permits from the U.S. Commerce Department, due out at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists expect building permits to edge down to 565,000 from the previous month's 585,000 units, while expect housing starts to come in at 580,000, up from 549,000 reported last month.
Today after the markets close, the API will release its report on U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ended May 13. Analysts expect crude oil inventories to increase by 1 million barrels and gasoline stocks to gain by 1.30 million barrels last week.
