(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil edged up Friday morning as traders await cues from today's economic data, including inflation numbers.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for April delivery, edged up $0.17 to $105.28 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended lower yet recovered from steep early trading losses rallied to make up for most of the losses after a White House spokesman denied any moves for a joint strategic oil reserve release by the U.S. and U.K.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was was hovering near a monthly high versus the euro, while ticking lower against sterling. The buck was extending its 1-year peak versus the yen and edging higher against the Swiss franc
In economic news, euro zone merchandise trade balance slipped to a deficit in January, and exceeded economists' forecast, data released by statistical office Eurostat showed. The trade balance was a deficit of EUR7.6 billion in January, compared to a surplus of EUR9.1 billion in December, which was revised down from EUR9.7 billion. Economists were looking for a deficit of EUR3 billion in January.
Traders will look to the inflation numbers from the U.S. Labor Department due out at 8.30 am ET. Economists expect the headline index to have increased 0.5 percent compared to a 0.2 percent increase in core inflation.
The Federal Reserve's industrial production report is due out at 9:15 am ET. Economists estimate 0.5 percent growth in industrial production for February. .
The preliminary report of the Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey for March is scheduled to be released at 9.55 am ET. The consumer sentiment index is expected to edge down to 75.3 from February's 76.
