By Claudia Assis and V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures traded lower Thursday, feeling the pinch of a stronger dollar and retracing some of Tuesday’s sharp gains.
Investors awaited weekly supplies data, and reacted mutely to news the European Central Bank delivered an interest-rate cut and the Bank of England announced additional stimulus measures, as widely expected.
The People’s Bank of China also acted, cutting its benchmark lending and deposit rates. The central bank also announced more relaxed rules on lending.
Crude for delivery in August CLQ2 -1.14% dropped 53 cents, or 0.6%, to $87.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The front-month contract had jumped $3.91, or 4.7%, in the floor session on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday, aided by geopolitical concerns over the Middle East and the hopes for the central banks.
U.S. markets were closed Wednesday for the Independence Day holiday. Due to the holiday, data on crude inventories are due later on Thursday.
The drop on Thursday came as the ICE dollar index DXY +0.88% , which measures the greenback’s performance against a basket of six major global currencies, added to gains, rising to 82.882 from 82.132 in North American trade late on Wednesday.
A stronger dollar is a negative for dollar-denominated commodity prices.
Oil futures also battled a decline in U.S. equities, which opened lower on Thursday on concerns about the ECB’s warning of further downside risk for the euro zone.
That overshadowed positive U.S. data, including a report showing a June pickup of private-sector jobs and a decline in the number of people applying for jobless benefits.
Meanwhile, among other energy futures, August gasoline RBQ2 +0.34% declined 2 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.75 a gallon. August heating oil HOQ2 -0.56% traded less than a cent lower, or 0.1%, to $2.76 per gallon.
Natural-gas futures for delivery in the same month NGQ12 +0.55% rose 2 cents, or 0.6%, to $2.92 per million British thermal units. The natural gas inventories report is delayed to Friday, also because of Wednesday’s holiday.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
