RTTN:Crude Steady As Traders Await Inventories Report
The price of crude oil was ticking lower Wednesday morning as traders await cues from the official inventories report from the EIA.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for August delivery, eased $0.40 to $105.60 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled marginally lower as investors await cues from the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's statement before lawmakers later this week, notwithstanding some encouraging macroeconomic data out of the U.S. Traders also await the upcoming weekly inventories data which saw a slump in inventories in weeks earlier
Tuesday after the market hours, the API said US crude oil stocks fell 2.60 million barrels and gasoline stocks added a similar 2.6 million barrels in the weekended July 12.
This morning the U.S. dollar was lingering around its one-month low versus the euro and the Swiss franc, while trading near a two-week low against sterling. The buck was flat versus the yen.
In economic news, euro zone construction output fell 0.3 percent month-on-month in May, following a 1 percent rise in April, Eurostat reported. On a yearly basis, construction output declined 5.1 percent, but slower than the 6.8 percent drop seen in April.
The number of people claiming jobless allowance in the UK declined more than expected in June, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The claimant count for June was 1.48 million, down 21,200 from May. Economists expected the figure to fall by 8,000. The claimant count rate edged down to 4.4 percent in June from 4.5 percent in May.
Traders will look to the housing starts report for June from the Commerce Department, due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect housing starts to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 951,000 in June, while building permits are expected at 990,000.
Bernanke is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee in Washington at 10 a.m. ET. Additionally, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its Beige Book report at 2 pm ET.
Today during trading hours, the EIA will release its US crude oil inventories report for the weekended July 12. Analysts expect crude oil stocks to shed 2.5 million barrels, while gasoline stocks are seen little changed.
