(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was steady near $107 Friday morning after China reported that its inflation dipped to a 20-month low in February, which raised speculation of more monetary easing measures by the commodity hungry nation. Also, traders await cues from the US non-farm payroll data, due out later today.
The National Bureau of Statistics said that the Chinese consumer price index rose 3.2 percent year-over-year in February, falling short of the 3.4 percent increase forecast by economists.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for April delivery, edged up $0.28 to $106.86 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended higher for a second straight session, after reports indicated that Greece was close to an agreement with private creditors in its debt swap deal.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was paring its recent losses versus the euro and sterling while ticking higher against the Swiss franc and the yen.
In economic news, Germany's EU harmonized consumer prices increased at estimated earlier in February, final data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed. The harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), measured under the EU methodology, increased 2.5 percent year-on-year in February, unrevised from the preliminary estimates. In January, the HICP rose 2.3 percent annually. Month-on-month, the HICP increased an unrevised 0.9 percent in February, the agency said.
Separately, the Federal Statistical Office said Germany's exports recovered in January at a faster than expected pace, growing 2.3 percent month-on-month, following a 4.4 percent drop in December. The expected rate of increase was 2 percent. Likewise, imports rose 2.4 percent, partially offsetting December's 3.9 percent drop and larger than the expected 1.5 percent rise. The foreign trade surplus increased to EUR 13.1 billion in January from EUR 12.9 billion in the prior month.
Traders will look to the non-farm payroll report from the U.S. Labor Department, due out at 8.30 a.m. ET. Economists Economists expect non-farm payrolls for February to increase by 204,000 and the unemployment rate to remain steady at 8.3 percent. In January, payrolls expanded by 243,000.
Simultaneously, the Commerce Department will come out with its trade gap data for January. Economists estimate that the trade gap narrowed slightly at $48.4 billion in the month from the $48.8 billion deficit recorded in December.
