By Sara Sjolin and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. crude-oil futures erased earlier losses and moved higher on Tuesday after better-than-expected European economic data and ahead of a weekly report about U.S. crude inventory.
Crude oil for September delivery CLU3 +0.27% rose 48 cents, or 0.5%, to $107.03.
Earlier in the global day, the contract traded in negative territory, but reversed during European trading hours as upbeat economic data lifted the trading mood. U.K. industrial production rose 1.1% in June compared with May, beating analysts’ expectations and sending the quarterly figure to the strongest level since December 2010.
Additionally, gross-domestic-product data out of Italy showed the country’s recession eased in the second quarter, with the economy contracting 0.2% compared with a 0.6% fall in the first quarter.
U.S. data are also on tap on Tuesday. Investors will watch U.S. trade figures for signs about economic conditions in China and in Europe. A report on U.S. job openings, also due, follows data Friday that showed the U.S. economy created a less-than-expected 162,000 jobs in July.
Weekly supply data is due after the close of Nymex trading. Analysts polled by Platts expect the report from the American Petroleum Institute, due at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, to show crude-oil stocks fell 2 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 2.
A separate report from the Energy Information Administration is expected on Wednesday.
Last week, the EIA reported an unexpected rise of 400,000 barrels in crude stockpiles. Crude oil stocks have fallen in four out of the five most recent reporting weeks. But at 364.6 million barrels, Platts said stockpiles were about 5.6% above the five-year average for the week ended July 26.
Analysts also expect gasoline stocks and distillate stocks to each fall by 1 million barrels.
The gains on Tuesday came after a downbeat session the prior day. The futures on Monday settled lower by 38 cents, or 0.4%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange “amid reports that Libyan oil production and exports were beginning to recover following a round of protests that had curtailed supply,” said Citi Futures energy futures specialist Tim Evans in a note late Monday. Evans highlighted that gasoline and heating-oil futures led price declines on Monday.
The news from Libya outweighed U.S. data favorable to energy-demand prospects. The Institute for Supply Management said its service index jumped to 56% in July from 52.2% in June. Economists had expected an increase to 53.1%, according to a MarketWatch survey.
Elsewhere in the energy complex on Tuesday, September Brent crude UK:LCOU3 -0.01% added 37 cents, or 0.3%, to $109.07 a barrel on ICE Futures.
September gasoline RBU3 +0.43% picked up 2 cents, or 0.8%, to $2.98 a gallon. September heating oil HOU3 -0.14% added a penny, or 0.3%, to $3.06 a gallon, and natural gas for September delivery NGU13 +0.72% also rose a penny to $3.33 per million British thermal units.
