(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was firm above $85 Thursday morning as traders hope for further stimulus measures from the U.S., to support its sagging economy.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for October delivery, edged up $0.52 to $85.68 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended flat even after a government report showed a surprise decrease in crude inventories, against expectations for a small build.
Wednesday during trading hours, the EIA revealed U.S. crude oil inventories dipped by 2.20 million barrels, while gasoline stocks added 1.40 million barrels in the week ended August 19. Analysts were expecting crude oil inventories to move up by 1.75 million barrels last week.
This morning the U.S. dollar trading mixed. The buck continued to drift lower versus the euro and the Swiss franc, while ticking higher versus the sterling and the yen.
In economic news from the euro zone, a consumer sentiment reading released from Germany showed that German consumer sentiment is set to worsen in September. The Gfk institute's forward looking consumer sentiment index is expected to decline to 13.4 in September from 44.6 in August.
Traders will look the weekly jobless claims report from the U.S. Labor Department due out at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists expect the claims to edge down to 402,000 from 408,000 reported last week.
