(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was ticking lower Tuesday morning as traders await cues from the G7 talks today. Finance officials from the Group of Seven industrialized powers are scheduled to hold emergency talks by phone Tuesday.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for July eased $0.33 to $83.65 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended higher mostly on a weak dollar with investors opting for some bargain buying on the low price of oil. Nonetheless, prices failed to top the $84 mark amid continued global demand growth concerns on some soft economic data from the U.S., Europe, and China.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was hovering near its two-year high versus the euro and around its five-month high against sterling. The buck was steady near its 16-month high against the Swiss franc, while lingering near a 4-month low versus the yen.
In economic news, the euro zone private sector shrank less than initially estimated in May, but the decline was the biggest since June 2009, according to the data from Markit Economics. The composite output index dropped to 46 from 46.7 in April. The reading was slightly above the flash reading of 45.9.
Meanwhile, data published by Eurostat revealed that euro zone retail sales declined more than expected by economists in April. Retail sales fell 1 percent month-on-month in April, compared to 0.1 drop forecast by economists. This followed 0.3 percent gain in March.
Elsewhere, Germany's factory orders declined 1.9 percent in April from a month ago when it grew 3.2 percent, the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology said. The rate of decline exceeded the 1.1 percent drop forecast by economists.
Traders will look to the release the results of its non-manufacturing survey by the Institute for Supply Management, due out at 10.00 a.m ET. The non-manufacturing index is likely to show a reading of 53.5 for May, flat with the previous month.
Today after the market hours, the API will release its U.S. crude oil inventories report fro the weekended June 01.
