The price of crude oil was ticking lower Monday morning after China reported a slower economic growth, raising concerns overt the demand growth from the world's second largest economy.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, grew 1.9 percent year-over-year in September, the National Bureau of Statistics announced. The index eased from a 2-percent rise in August.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for November delivery, eased $0.17 to $91.69 a barrel. Last week, oil gained nearly 2 percent mostly on bargain hunting and renewed supply concerns after news that the ongoing unrest in Syria could spread to adjoining areas, with Turkey keyed up after mortar strikes on its territory. There were also news reports of Nato plans to protect Turkey's border with Syria following increased tensions between the two countries. This morning, the U.S. dollar continued to level off from its two-week high versus the euro and from a monthly high against sterling. The buck moved back to a weekly high versus the yen, while trading flat against the Swiss franc.
In economic news from the euro zone, Switzerland's producer and import price rose 0.3 percent year-on-year in September, reversing a 0.1 percent fall last month, the Federal Statistical Office said. On a monthly basis, the producer and import price index gained 0.3 percent, mainly attributable to the rise in the price of oil and petroleum products. The September increase follows a 0.5 percent growth in August.
From the U.S., the Commerce Department's retail sales report for September will be out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists estimate a 0.7 percent increase each in retail sales and a 0.5 percent increase in retail sales, excluding autos sales. In August, retail sales climbed 0.9 percent.
Simultaneously, the results of the New York Federal Reserve's empire state manufacturing survey is slated to be released. The headline general business conditions index for October is expected to come in at -3 compared to -10.4 in September.
During this week, traders will focus on economic reports on retail sales, consumer prices, housing starts and existing home sales. Also, focus will be on the crude oil inventories data from the API, due out Tuesday after the market hours, and the EIA due out the subsequent day.
