The price of crude oil was moving lower Monday morning as traders digest a mixed batch of macroeconomic data out of Europe.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for September delivery, shed $0.66 to $106.28 a barrel. Last week, oil gained over 2 percent after some upbeat macroeconomic data out of the U.S. fueled hopes of continued demand growth for oil.
This morning the U.S. dollar was trading flat versus the euro, while slipping toward a weekly low against sterling. The buck was moving lower versus the yen and little changed against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, the euro area economy returned to expansion territory in July, as manufacturing output posted a solid growth and the trend in services activity moved close to stabilization, survey from Markit Economics showed. The final composite output index rose to 50.5 in July, a near two-year high, from 48.7 in June. The flash reading was 50.4.
Meanwhile, Germany's service sector activity increased at a faster pace in July, indicating a further improvement in business conditions, but by a lesser degree than initially estimated, latest data showed. Final data from a survey compiled by Markit Economics showed that the seasonally adjusted purchasing managers' index for the service sector moved up to 51.3 in July from 50.4 in June. The flash estimates were for a higher reading of 52.5.
Euro area investor confidence improved notably in August from a month earlier, a survey by think-tank Sentix revealed, suggesting that the recovery of the 17-nation economy is gaining traction. The Sentix investor confidence index rose to -4.9 in August from -12.6 in July and -11.6 in June. This was also much better than the expected score of -10.
Retail sales in the euro area decreased in June after recovering in the previous month, data released by statistical office Eurostat showed. The rate of contraction matched economists' forecast. Retail sales declined 0.5 percent month-on-month in June, reversing May's 1.1 percent increase, which was revised up from 1 percent. The latest outcome was in line with economists' forecast.
From the U.S., the Institute for Supply Management will release the results of its service sector survey at 10 a.m. ET. Economists expect the index to improve to 53 in July from 52.2 in June.
