IV:Crude oil slips on China trade data, U.S. inventories data
Investing.com - Crude oil futures slipped lower on Thursday as weak Chinese trade data and an increase in U.S. inventory levels weighed, while Brent crude also fell, narrowing the spread between the two to the smallest since September.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil futures for delivery in May were trading at $103.49, slipping 0.12%.
Brent oil for May delivery was down 0.43% to $107.52 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, while the spread between the Brent and U.S. crude contracts stood at $4.03, the narrowest since September 20.
Crude oil prices weakened after official data on Thursday showed that China’s crude oil imports fell to a five-month low in March, dropping to 5.55 million barrels a day, while oil-product imports fell to 540,000 barrels a day.
China’s overall exports unexpectedly fell for the second month in March, while imports dropped sharply, adding to concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest oil consumer.
In the U.S., the Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Wednesday that crude oil inventories rose by 4.03 million barrels in the week ended April 4, compared to expectations for a build of 1.3 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 384.1 million barrels as of last week.
The report came one day after the American Petroleum Institute said U.S. oil inventories rose by 7.1 million barrels last week, well above expectations for an increase of 2.5 million barrels.
