WSJ: Oil Futures Tad Down; China, U.S. Economies, Egypt Unrest in Focus Next Week
By Mari Iwata
Crude oil futures fell slightly Friday in sluggish trade in Asia, as traders paused to take stock of the recent runup in the prices of New York Mercantile Exchange oil futures to 15-month highs.
On Nymex, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at $104.80 a barrel at 0553 GMT, down $0.11 in the Globex electronic session. August Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.07 to $107.66 a barrel.
This week's 15-month highs on Nymex came as traders overreacted to the 20 million barrels drop in U.S. crude inventories in the previous two weeks, ignoring the fact that global supplies are still ample, said Timothy Evans, energy futures specialist of Citi Futures and OTC Clearing, in a note.
"The wider market does look well supplied and that's one reason the Brent market has been falling," Mr. Evans added.
"Even though the U.S. does not import oil as much as they did, the world's production has not fallen. I have no idea who were buying in the rise," said Koichiro Kamei, an analyst at Market Strategy Institute.
Next week, investors will focus on the unrest in Egypt, and the health of the U.S. and Chinese economies, analysts said.
China's April-June gross domestic product and the U.S. June retail sales are due on Monday, followed by U.S. consumer prices and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony at the Congress later in the week.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for August--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 342 points to $3.0556 a gallon, while August heating oil traded at $2.9992, 42 points higher.
ICE gasoil for August changed hands at $908.75 a metric ton, down $0.75 from Thursday's settlement.
