The price of crude oil was lingering near its one-week low Monday morning, with the U.S. dollar trading higher versus a basket of currencies amid a recent batch of upbeat macroeconomic data.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for March delivery, shed $1.03 to $96.74 a barrel. Last week, oil gained nearly 2 percent to settle near a four-month high tracking rising global equity markets, with the prospect of economic growth appearing bright on a slew of upbeat macroeconomic data and dispelled fears of any easing in demand for oil. The bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey also renewed geopolitical concerns of disruption in supply, with the situation in Algeria and Egypt already a cause for worry.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was leveling off from its 14-month low versus the euro and steady around its 5-month high against sterling. The buck was trading around its two-and half year high versus the yen and ticking higher against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, the annual increase in euro zone producer prices remained unchanged at 2.1 percent in December, data published by Eurostat showed. Economists had forecast the rate to edge up to 2.2 percent. The industrial producer price index was down 0.2 percent month-on-month, the same rate of fall as seen in November and in line with economists' expectations.
Traders will look to the Commerce Department's factory goods orders report for December, due out at 10 a.m. ET. Economists estimate factory goods orders to have increased by 2.4 percent month-over-month.
During this week, focus will be on the results of the Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing survey for January, the jobless claims report and the Commerce Department's trade balance report for December. Further, the Commerce Department's factory orders report for December, the preliminary fourth quarter productivity & costs report, the Federal Reserve's consumer credit report for December and the wholesales inventories report for December are due this week
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.
