By Claudia Assis and V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices slid under $85 a barrel Thursday after minutes of the latest U.S. Federal Reserve cut hopes for a quick burst of central-bank stimulus, the dollar rose, and U.S. equities traded lower.
Crude for delivery in August CLQ2 -1.81% fell $1.50, or 1.7%, to $84.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Investors had hoped for signals of further Federal Reserve stimulus but came up empty, as the minutes showed few Fed officials seemed to be inclined to ease more soon. Read more on Fed minutes.
That sent the dollar at a two-year high against the euro and rising among other top currencies. Read more on currencies.
Fears of a sharp slowdown in Chinese economic growth also weighed on the commodity, with the No. 2 economy slated to release second-quarter gross domestic product data on Friday. Economists surveyed by FactSet are expecting growth to slow to 7.5%.
At that level, the rate of China’s expansion would be markedly lower than the 8.1% growth recorded in the first quarter, which was itself the economy’s slowest pace since the first quarter of 2009.
Oil settled sharply higher on Wednesday, helped by a weekly supplies report that showed a larger-than-expected decline in crude inventories but had worrisome numbers for gasoline and distillates stockpiles.
Also reflecting subdued investor sentiment, U.S. equities traded lower, starting a sixth session of losses. Read more in Market Snapshot.
Some positive news on U.S. jobless claims failed to send oil prices and equities higher.
The Labor Department reported first-time filings for jobless benefits fell last week to their lowest in more than four years. Read more on jobless claims.
The decline likely stemmed from fewer auto-industry layoffs and other one-off factors, taking the shine off the data.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, August gasoline RBQ2 -0.50% declined less than 1 cent, or 0.2%, to $2.77 a gallon. August heating oil HOQ2 -1.40% dropped 3 cents, or 1.2%, to $2.73 per gallon.
August natural gas NGQ12 -2.00% turned lower, down 9 cents, or 3%, to $2.76 per million British thermal units after the Energy Information Administration released data on weekly natural gas supplies. The Energy Information Administration said supplies of the product rose 33 billion cubic feet in the week ended July 6.
Analysts polled by Platts expected an increase in inventories between 24 billion cubic feet and 28 bcf for the week ended July 6.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
