(RTTNews) - Erasing early trading gains, the price of crude oil moved lower as Tropical Storm Debby changed its course leaving the oil producing states of Louisiana and Texas unscathed
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for August delivery, shed $0.70 to $79.06 a barrel. Last week, oil dived over 5 percent to settle near a nine-month low on some weak economic data from China and U.S., coupled with a strengthening dollar. Prices were also impacted by the more-than-expected U.S. crude oil stockpile increase last week. Investor sentiments were at a low after the Federal Reserve failed to provide any monetary stimulus measures, widely expected this time.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was steady around its two-week high versus the euro and extending recent gains against sterling. The buck was leveling off from its one-month high against the yen, while ticking higher versus the Swiss franc.
During this week traders' focus will be on the Commerce Department's new homes sales report for May, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index for May, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index for June and the weekly jobless claims data, the results of the ISM-Chicago's manufacturing survey for June, the Commerce Department's personal income and spending report for May and the durable goods orders report for May.
Also, focus will be on the crude oil inventories data from the API, due out Tuesday after the market hours, and the EIA due out the subsequent day.
