(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was moving higher Wednesday morning as traders await cues from the official crude oil inventories report from the EIA.
Meanwhile, Credit Suisse in a report released today, trimmed its oil-price outlook citing weaker demand on euro crisis. Its forecast for WTI is now $90.58 a barrel, down from $112 a barrel.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for August delivery, moved up $1.30 to $85.21 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled near a two-week low on continued euro zone concerns and a Norwegian government move to preempt oil production shutdown in the country with oil workers on strike for three weeks. Oil prices also were impacted by a strong dollar and a declining U.S. equity market.
Tuesday after the market hours, the API said U.S. crude oil inventories shed 695,000 barrels, while gasoline stocks jumped 2.5 million barrels in the weekended July 06.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was hovering near its two-year high versus the euro, while leveling off from a monthly high against sterling. The buck was ticking lower versus the yen and the Swiss franc.
In economic news from the euro zone, Germany's EU harmonized consumer prices increased as estimated earlier in June, final data released by statistical office Destatis showed. The harmonized index of consumer prices increased 2 percent on an annual basis in June, in line with the preliminary estimates. The growth rate, however, eased from May's 2.2 percent.
Traders will look to the trade balance data from the U.S. Commerce Department, due out at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists estimate that the trade gap to narrow to $48.7 billion from a deficit of $50.1 billion in the previous month.
Later during the session, the Federal Reserve is due to release the minutes of its June 19th and 20th meeting.
Today during trading hours, the EIA will release its U.S. crude inventories report for the weekended July 06. Analysts expect crude oil inventories to dip by 1.5 million barrels, while gasoline stocks are seen adding 600,000 barrels last week.
