By Claudia Assis, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures were back to red Monday after a boost from climbing sales of new homes in the U.S. was short-lived.
Crude prices opened lower in New York but, tracking stocks, turned higher after the Commerce Department showed sales of new homes rebounding in June after falling to all-time low in May.
Crude for September delivery lost 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $78.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The increase in new-home sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 330,000 was well above the 316,000 pace expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. U.S. stocks rose on the news, but recently also lost some steam. Read more about stocks.
The upbeat housing numbers made way to hopes the economic recovery is on track and energy demand is bound to pick up. Oil prices rallied nearly 4% last week and have posted weekly gains in five of the last eight weeks.
Other energy futures tracked oil lower, with natural gas for August delivery, the thinly traded front-month contract, losing a penny, or 0.3%, to $4.56 per million British thermal units.
"This week will be a real test of the oil complex's resilience," analysts at Cameron Hanover said in a note early Monday. "A failure to break and settle above $80 early this week would be seen by many as a technical failure to break to new highs."
Oil has traded within a range banded by $70 to $80 a barrel, and a close at $80 a barrel is seen by many as a condition to trend higher.
Meanwhile, reformulated gasoline for August delivery lost a penny, or 0.6%, to $2.11 a gallon.
The dollar index (DXY 82.31, -0.16, -0.19%) , with tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, declined 0.2% to 82.31.
