Oil traded little changed near a one-month low before a report forecast to show U.S. supplies rose from their highest level since 1990. An Energy Department report this week is forecast to show that crude inventories climbed from the highest level since 1990. Oil dropped the most since May 2 yesterday after after an index of U.S. leading economic indicators released yesterday showed a lower reading than expected. “Oil fundamentals are not tight enough,” said Olivier Jakob, managing director at Petromatrix GmbH in Zug, Switzerland. “As soon as the combined support of strong equities and weak dollar goes missing then crude oil starts to move back to the lower band of the trading range.” Crude oil for May delivery was at $45.67 a barrel, down 21 cents, at 12:12 p.m. London time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It earlier fell as much as 69 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $45.19. Yesterday, crude futures fell $4.45, or 8.8 percent, to $45.88 a barrel, the lowest settlement since March 11. It was the biggest drop since March 2. The May contract expires today. The more-active June futures were down 1 cent at $48.50 a barrel as of 12:15 p.m. in London. The futures dropped $3.96, or 7.5 percent, to $48.51 a barrel yesterday. The dollar traded near a five-week high versus the euro as European Central Bank policy makers disagreed on the measures needed to combat the recession, reducing the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge. The dollar traded for $1.2944 per euro at 11:53 a.m. in London. Leading Indicators Crude dropped after an index of U.S. leading economic indicators released yesterday showed a lower reading than expected. The Conference Board gauge points to the direction of the economy over the next six months and slid 0.3 percent. “U.S. numbers have been unusually soggy,” said Edward Meir, an analyst at MF Global Ltd. in Connecticut. “The March index of leading economic indicators was the latest report to disappoint.” Crude-oil stockpiles rose 2.4 million barrels last week, according to the median of 10 estimates by analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. The Energy Department is scheduled to release its weekly report April 22 at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. The excess of U.S. supply helped push the discount of crude on the Nymex against North Sea Brent to $4.35, the widest since Feb. 18. Brent crude oil for June settlement was at $50.10, up 24 cents, on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange at 11:55 a.m. local time. Yesterday the contract fell $3.49, or 6.5 percent, to $49.86 a barrel.

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