(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was moving lower Friday morning as the U.S. Federal Reserve disappointed investors, offering no cues on further monetary easing measures.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for July delivery lost $2.55 to $82.27 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended its three-session winning streak to settle lower after the Federal Reserve failed to hint on further monetary stimulus measures. Oil prices had rallied earlier after China announced an unexpected cut in lending rates to stimulate growth.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was hovering around its two-year high versus the euro and around its weekly high against sterling. The buck was ticking higher versus the Swiss franc, while trading lower against the yen.
In economic news from the euro zone, German exports declined 1.7 percent month-on-month in April after adjusting to seasonal and calendar variations, the Federal Statistical Office said. This was the first decline in exports since December 2011. Economists expected only a 0.7 percent fall in shipments during the month.
A report from the Office for National Statistics revealed U.K. output price inflation eased in May to the lowest since November 2009. Output price inflation fell to 2.8 percent in May from 3.2 percent in April. The annual rate was expected to stay at 3.2 percent.
Traders will look to the U.S. trade gap data for April, due out at 8:30 am ET. Economists estimate that the trade gap narrowed to $49.3 billion from $51.8 billion in the previous month.
Later during the session, the Commerce Department is due to release its wholesale inventories report. Economists expect wholesale inventories at the end of April to show a 0.5 percent increase a compared to 0.3 percent growth in March.
