The price of crude oil was steady near its weekly high Friday morning as traders await cues from the US non-farm payroll report, due out later today.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for October delivery, edged up $0.19 to $108.56 a barrel. Yesterday, oil gained over 1 percent after an Energy Information Administration weekly report showed U.S. crude stockpiles to have dropped much more than expected, and on supply concerns with possibilities of military action against Syria on the horizon. Oil prices also gained from some upbeat macroeconomic data out of the U.S., despite the dollar trading higher against a basket of major currencies.
Wednesday during trading hours, the EIA said US crude oil inventories dipped 1.80 million barrels and gasoline stocks shed a similar 1.80 million barrels in the weekended August 30. Analysts expected crude oil inventories to ease 0.20 million barrels and gasoline stocks to shed 0.60 million barrels last week.
This morning the U.S. dollar moved up near a 2-month high versus the euro and the Swiss franc, while trading flat against sterling and the yen.
In economic news from the euro zone, Germany's foreign trade surplus decreased more than forecast by economists in July amid a fall in exports, data from the Federal Statistical Office revealed. The trade surplus fell to EUR16.1 billion in July from EUR 17 billion in June. Economists had forecast a surplus of EUR 16.5 billion. In calendar and seasonally adjusted terms, the surplus was EUR 14.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Germany's industrial production decreased in July at a notably faster rate than economists had forecast, latest data showed. Industrial production fell a seasonally and calendar-adjusted 1.7 percent in July from the previous month, marking a deterioration from June's 2 percent increase, preliminary data released by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology showed. Economists had forecast production to record a 0.5 percent contraction in July
Elsewhere, British industrial production decreased in July, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed. Production declined 1.6 percent year-on-year in July, reversing a 1.4 percent increase in June. This compares with forecast for a 1.7 percent fall.
Britons' inflation expectations have eased from May and the proportion of respondents expecting an interest rate hike in the next 12 months was the lowest since 2008, results of a key survey from the Bank of England revealed.
Traders will look to the non-farm payroll report from the US Labor Department due out at 8.30 a.m ET. Economists expect that the economy added 175,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate is expected to have remained unchanged at 7.4 percent.
