MW: Oil falls in NY; Merrill Lynch ups Brent forecast
By Myra P. Saefong
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures edged lower Tuesday morning in New York, pulling back after a two-session gain. Brent crude in London was poised to mark a second-straight day of losses. April crude (CLJ11 104.82, -0.62, -0.59%) fell 87 cents to $104.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on ICE Futures was down $1.52 at $113.52 a barrel after touching highs near $120 in late February. In a research report dated Monday, strategists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised their second-quarter forecast for Brent crude to $122 from $86, noting that Brent could "briefly break through" $140 in the next three months given "larger-than-normal risks" tied to the situation in the Middle East and North Africa.
