MW: Oil turns lower as Greece rescue talks steal spotlight
By Claudia Assis & Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures turned modestly lower Monday, as investors focused on European leaders' plans to bail out Greece.
Crude for June delivery, the most active contract, lost 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $85.89 a barrel on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It earlier hit an intraday high of $85.68 a barrel.
Crude started off the day marginally higher. The strength of the U.S. dollar, however, had limited gains in the oil market.
The dollar index (DXY 81.52, +0.04, +0.05%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, gained 0.2% to 81.59.
The euro slipped as German chancellor Angela Merkel said in a press conference that there's still need for a solid deal for the Greek aid package to work.
Oil prices rose nearly 2% on Friday, buoyed by a report showing that sales of newly built homes soared 27% in March.
Also, new orders for U.S.-made durable goods, excluding transportation goods, increased 2.8% in March, the fastest growth since the recession began in December 2007.
No major U.S. economic data are scheduled for release on Monday.
U.S. stocks edged higher in early trading, as Caterpillar Inc. (CAT 72.41, +3.63, +5.28%) reported a first-quarter profit of $233 million and raised its full-year earnings and revenue outlook. "Economic conditions are definitely improving, particularly in the world's developing economies," Caterpillar said.
