(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was moving lower Wednesday morning as traders were cautious ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting Thursday
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for October delivery, slipped $0.16 to $95.14 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended lower after some weak manufacturing data from the U.S. that showed a third straight month of contraction.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was lingering around its two-month low versus the euro and near a two-week low against sterling. The buck was leveling off from a three-week low versus the yen, while trading flat against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, euro zone's private sector contracted more than initially estimated in August, data from a survey by Matkit Economics showed. The seasonally adjusted composite output index, designed to measure activity in both the manufacturing sector and the service sector, dropped to 46.3 in August from 46.5 in July. The index was initially estimated to rise to 46.6.
Meanwhile, data released by Eurostat showed retail sales in euro zone declined 0.2 percent month-on-month in July, in line with economists' forecast. This followed a 0.1 percent increase in June. On an annual basis, sales fell 1.7 percent in July. This was also in line with forecast.
In economic news, the U.S. Labor Department will release its final report on second quarter non-farm productivity and unit labor costs at 8:30 a.m. Economists expect productivity growth to be upwardly revised to 1.9 percent, while unit labor costs are expected to have increased at a downwardly revised rate of 1.4 percent.
Today after the market hours, the API will release its crude oil inventories report for the weekended August 31.
