The price of crude oil was leveling-off from its 16-month high Monday morning amid concerns over demand growth after a recent batch of soft macroeconomic data out of China.
China's economic growth slowed in the second quarter amid weaker industrial production and investment growth, the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed Monday. The gross domestic product rose 7.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, in line with expectations. This was slower than the 7.7 percent growth recorded in the first three months. In the first half of the year, GDP rose 7.6 percent compared with the same period last year.
A separate report from the statistical office showed that industrial production grew 8.9 percent annually in June. This was weaker than May's 9.2 percent growth and the 9.1 percent expansion forecast.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for August delivery, shed $0.61 to $105.34 a barrel. Last week, oil moved up nearly 3 percent to settle near a 16-month high, with the ongoing political turmoil in Egypt, fueling concerns the situation could disrupt oil shipments through the Suez Canal.
This morning the U.S. dollar was moving higher versus the euro and sterling, while trading firm versus the Swiss franc and the yen.
In economic news from the euro zone, the number of employees in the German manufacturing sector increased modestly in May, preliminary data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed. The number of persons employed in manufacturing units with 50 or more employees, increased 0.6 percent on an annual basis to 5.2 million in May.
Switzerland's producer and import prices rose 0.2 percent year-on-year in June, offsetting the 0.2 percent decrease in May, the Federal Statistical Office reported. It was forecast to increase by 0.3 percent.
Traders will look to the retail sales report for June from the Commerce Department, due out at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists expect retail sales growth of 0.8 percent month-over-month for June, while retail sales, excluding autos, may have risen by 0.5 percent.
Simultaneously, the New York Federal Reserve is due to release the results of its manufacturing survey for July. The consensus estimates call for a small decline in the general business conditions index to 5 in July from 7.84 in June.
Later during the session, the Commerce Department will release its business inventories report for May. Economists expect business inventories to have remained unchanged in May following a 0.3 percent increase in April.
