(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was ticking higher Tuesday morning amid a generally weak U.S. dollar and on hopes for further stimulus measures from the ECB.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for September delivery, added $0.36 to $93.09 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended lower on weak cues from the equity markets even as investors continued to weigh possibilities of additional monetary stimulus from central banks globally.
This morning, the U.S. dollar continued to level off from its weekly high versus the euro and slipped back near a three-week low against sterling. The buck was moving lower versus the Swiss franc and ticking higher against the yen.
In economic news, the euro zone economy contracted in the second quarter as expected by economists, flash estimate from Eurostat showed. Gross domestic product of the 17-nation currency bloc fell 0.2 percent from the prior quarter after staying flat in the first quarter. On a yearly basis, the economy shrank 0.4 percent after stagnating in the prior quarter. The annual fall also matched economists' expectations.
Earlier today, preliminary estimates from the Federal Statistical Office revealed that the German economy expanded more than expected in the second quarter.
Traders will look to the retail sales data from the U.S. Commerce Department's report on retail sales for July, due out at 8:30 am ET. Economists estimate a 0.3 percent increase in retail sales and a 0.4 percent increase in retail sales that exclude autos. In June, retail sales fell by 0.5 percent.
Simultaneously, the Labor Department will release its report on the producer price index for July. Economists expect the headline index and the core producer price index for July to have risen by 0.2 percent each. The headline index had risen by 0.1 percent in June.
Today after the market hours, the API will release its U.S. crude oil inventories report for the weekended August 10.
