The price of crude oil was steady above the $90-mark Thursday morning as traders await cues from today's macroeconomic data, including weekly jobless claims data.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for April delivery, edged up $0.37 to $90.80 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled lower after a weekly report from the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. oil stockpiles to have increased more than expected for the last week. Nevertheless, oil pared much of the losses to close above $90 a barrel after hitting a low of near $89.5 intraday. Prices made gains after a Fed Beige Book report that revealed economic activity in the country to have expanded at a modest-to-moderate pace as reported in a previous survey mid-January.
Wednesday during trading hours, the EIA revealed that US crude oil inventories jumped 3.80 million barrels, while gasoline stocks shed 0.60 million barrels in the weekended March 01. Analysts expected crude oil inventories to gain 788,000 barrels, while gasoline stocks are seen shedding 1 million barrels last week
This morning, the U.S. dollar was hovering around its 2-month high versus the euro and its 30-month high against sterling. The buck was trading around its two-and half year high versus the yen and ticking lower against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, the Bank of England maintained the size of quantitative easing at GBP 375 billion and the interest rate at a record low 0.50 percent, as widely expected..
The European Central Bank is set to announce its interest rate decision at 7.45 a.m ET. The central bank is seen holding its key interest rate at 0.75 percent. ECB President Mario Draghi will hold a regular press conference at 8.30 a.m ET.
Traders will look to the weekly jobless claims data from the U.S. Labor Department, due out at 8.30 a.m ET. Economists expect initial jobless claims to come in at 355,000, marginally up from 344,000 reported last week.
Simultaneously, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its trade balance report for January. Economists expect the trade deficit to have widened to $43 billion from a deficit of $38.5 billion in December.
