(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was steady near $87 Tuesday morning ahead of weekly inventories report from the American Petroleum Institute.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for October delivery, edged down $0.33 to $86.94 a barrel. Yesterday, oil gained over 2 percent to settle near a 2-week high after data revealed an increase in U.S. consumer spending that eased concerns of a faltering demand from the world's largest oil consumer. Hurricane Irene's limited impact on refinery operations on the U.S. East Coast also helped oil.
Earlier today, data from the Ministry of Finance- Japan revealed that the nation imported 4.07 mbd crude oil over August 1-10, up 15.9 percent in the same period last year.
This morning the U.S. dollar was paring its recent losses versus the euro and sterling, while edging lower against the yen. The buck was ticking higher versus the Swiss franc.
In economic news, euro zone economic confidence declined sharply in August according to a monthly survey from the European Commission. The economic confidence index fell to 98.3 from 103 in July. It was well below the consensus forecast of 103.2 and its long-term average of 100.
Traders will look to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, which tracks monthly changes in the value of residential real estate in 20 metropolitan regions across the U.S., scheduled to be released at 9 a.m. ET Economists expect a 4.4 percent year-over-year decline in the index for June.
Later during the session, the Conference Board will come out with its consumer confidence report for August. The report is expected to show that the consumer confidence index fell to 57 in August after it rose 1.9 points to 59.5 in July.
Traders will also be keen to get clues from the Federal Reserve's minutes of August 9 FOMC meeting, due out at 2 p.m.ET.
Today after the market hours, the API will release its report on U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ended August 26.
