The price of crude oil was ticking higher Monday morning amid concerns over supply disruption from the Middle-East, with worries over China's stuttering economy capping big gains.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for September delivery, edged up $0.21 to $104.91 a barrel. Last week, oil lost nearly 3 percent to end at a near two-week low on demand growth concerns after some weak factory activity data out of China, the world's second largest oil consumer.
This morning the U.S. dollar was extending its one-month low versus the euro. Sterling and the Swiss franc. The buck continued to move lower against the yen.
In economic news, U.K. mortgage approvals declined in June despite measures taken by the government and central bank to ease credit conditions, data from the Bank of England showed. The number of loans approved for house purchases fell unexpectedly to 57,667 in June from 58,071 in May. It was forecast to rise to 59,500 in June.
Traders will look to the pending home sales index for June from the National Association of Realtors, due out at 10 a.m ET. Economists expect a 1.4 percent drop in the index in June following a 6.7 percent surge in May.
During this week traders focus will be on the monthly non-farm payrolls report for July and the 2-day FOMC meeting beginning on Tuesday. Traders may also closely track the results of the Institute for Supply Management's national manufacturing survey for July and a couple of regional manufacturing surveys from the ISM-Chicago, the results of ADP's private payrolls survey, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index for June, the Conference Board's consumer confidence reading for July, the jobless claims report and the Commerce Department's personal income and spending report for June.
Also, focus will be on the crude oil inventories data from the API, due out Tuesday after the market hours, and the EIA due out the subsequent day.
