(Updates prices, adds U.S. stocks futures)
By Emma Farge
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - Oil fell towards $67 on Friday,
after equalling this year's longest rally, due to a fall in U.S.
stocks futures following disappointing corporate earnings.
U.S. crude CLc1 eased 4 cents to $67.12 a barrel by 1314
GMT, having scaled $67.68 earlier, the highest intra-day since
July 2.
Oil's rally to Thursday had already matched the seven-day
gain seen in May with the Dow industrials rising above the key
9,000 mark for the first time since January. .DJI [.N]
London Brent crude LCOc1 was up by 8 cents at $69.34.
"The stock markets are as important as any oil fundamentals
at the moment. I cannot see what is going to decouple equities
and oil given the way they are working together now," said Tony
Machacek, oil futures broker at Bache Financial.
U.S. stock index futures dropped on Friday as disappointing
results came from Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and American Express
Co (AXP.N: Quote, Profile, Research). [.N]
At 1355 GMT, the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of
Consumers releases its final July consumer sentiment index.
Economists polled by Reuters expect a reading of 65.0 compared
with 70.8 in the final June report.
GASOLINE
Yet, losses were limited by falling supplies of gasoline.
U.S. refiners have been hit by a slew of unplanned outages,
adding to deep run cuts enacted in reaction to weak profit
margins and slumping U.S. demand for fuel under the weight of
the recession. [REF/OUT]
Benchmark New York RBOB gasoline futures RBc1 have risen
more than 8 percent so far this week, surpassing an about 5
percent gain in crude oil prices, and its profit level, or
crack, in relation to crude oil has also risen.
"The current support on crude oil is not only driven by
exogenous markets, equities/the dollar index, but is as
well supported by products cracks that are making strong gains
on the back of refinery glitches and expected run cuts," Olivier
Jakob with Petromatrix said.
European refiners have also kept their runs low to ease
oversupply of middle distillates, such as heating oil, squeezing
gasoline output. [REF/E]
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Tan in Singapore, editing
by Ikuko Kurahone and Peter Blackburn)
