MW: Crude-oil slips on firm dollar, weak stock futures
By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices dropped in electronic trading Wednesday, weighed down by a firmer dollar and a decline in U.S. stock-index futures, amid concern the Federal Reserve may not introduce an additional monetary stimulus.
May crude-oil futures CLK2 -0.52% declined 42 cents, or 0.4%, to $103.59 a barrel on Globex during Asian business hours. The drop stretched a $1.22 loss in a regular New York Mercantile Exchange session overnight.
The U.S. dollar DXY +0.18% broadly appreciated against major counterparts Wednesday, pressuring commodities whose prices are benchmarked in the currency.
U.S. index futures also pointed to a likely lower opening. Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.49% futures gave up 44 points to 13,088, while the S&P 500 SPX -0.40% futures shed 5.8 points, or 0.4%, to 1,403.
The performance reflects a hangover of worries that the Federal Reserve may not launch a third round of its asset purchases, which pressured stocks on Wall Street Tuesday.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, May futures for gasoline RBK2 +0.28% climbed 0.1% to $3.40 per gallon.
Heating-oil HOK2 -0.12% for delivery next month slipped 0.1% to $3.23 per gallon, while natural-gas futures NGK12 -0.14% dropped 0.2% to $2.18 per million British thermal units.
