The price of crude oil was moving higher Thursday morning with the US dollar continuing to trade lower ahead of jobs data, due out Friday. Further, US crude oil stocks moved down from a record high last week, easing worries over demand growth.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for July delivery, edged up $0.46 to $94.20 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled higher after an official weekly oil report from the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. crude stockpiles to have plunged more than expected last week and supported by a weak dollar.
Wednesday during trading hours, the EIA said US crude oil inventories leveled off from a record high, plummeting 6.30 million barrels and gasoline stocks eased 0.40 million barrels in the weekended May 31. Analysts expected US crude oil inventories to dip only by 0.80 million barrels last week.
This morning the U.S. dollar was lingering around its one-month low versus the euro, the Swiss franc, and sterling. The buck was leveling off from its 4 year high versus the yen.
In economic news, the Bank of England held its interest rate at 0.50 percent and quantitative easing unchanged at GBP 375 billion, as widely expected.
German factory orders declined 2.3 percent in April from a month ago, offsetting March's 2.3 percent increase, the Ministry of Economics and Technology said. The decline was sharper than the expected 1 percent drop. Domestic orders slipped 3.2 percent and the decrease in foreign orders came in at 1.5 percent.
Switzerland's consumer prices declined 0.5 percent year-on-year in May, after easing 0.6 percent each in April and March, the Federal Statistical Office reported. Economists were forecasting the consumer price index to fall by 0.6 percent again in May.
The European Central Bank is set to announce its rate decision at 7.45 am ET. The bank is expected to retain its refi rate after cutting it by 25 basis points to a record low 0.50 percent in May. ECB President Mario Draghi is set to hold his customary post-decision press conference at 8.30 am ET.
From the U.S., the Labor Department will release its weekly jobless claims data at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists expect the claims to ease to 354,000 in the weekended June 01 from 354,000 reported last week.
