(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was moving lower Tuesday morning after China reported a lukewarm import data earlier today.
China's trade growth plunged in June, amid weak U.S. and European demand and a Chinese slowdown. Import growth fell to 6.3 percent, while export growth declined to 11.3 percent in June from May's 15.3 percent.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for August delivery, eased $0.17 to $85.82 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended higher in anticipation of a full-blown strike that threatens to shutdown Norway's oil production. Offshore oil workers in Norway have been on strike for about three weeks, with oil production dropping almost 15 percent.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was hovering near a two-year high versus the euro and around a monthly high against sterling. The buck eased near a 2-week low versus the yen and trading flat against the Swiss franc.
In economic news from the euro zone, U.K. industrial production logged an unexpected growth of 1 percent in May from a month ago, when it fell 0.4 percent, the Office for National Statistics said. Economists were forecasting a 0.2 percent fall for May.
Meanwhile, industrial production in France declined 1.9 percent month-on-month in May, data from the French statistical office Insee showed. This followed a 1.4 percent gain in April and was steeper than 1 percent drop expected by economists.
Today after the market hours, the API will release its U.S. crude oil inventories report for the weekended July 06.
