By Claudia Assis and Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures turned lower Tuesday, as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony to Congress has dashed hopes of further monetary-policy stimulus.
Crude for August delivery CLQ2 -0.38% declined 53 cents, or 0.6%, to $87.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil rallied Monday, ending 1.5% higher to top a four-day winning streak.
Bernanke addressed a Senate committee Tuesday, striking a sober tone. Before the two-day testimony on Capitol Hill started, many investors had hoped for signs he would hint of more monetary-policy easing. Read more on what to expect from Bernanke's testimony
“We saw a (1.5%) rally into the close Monday on nothing but expectations, and that has been unwound,” said Matt Smith, an analyst with Summit Energy in Kentucky.
The Fed is likely to wait at least for another month’s worth of deteriorating macroeconomic to act, if it’s going to act, he added.
With their hopes dashed, at least for now, investors sought the dollar and fled investments considered riskier.
The dollar added to its earlier climb, with the ICE dollar index DXY +0.30% , which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of six rival currencies, recently rising to 83370, from 83.126 before the start of testimony and from 82.911 in late North American trade Monday.
Bernanke started his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m. Eastern time, and goes before the House Financial Services panel on Wednesday.
Crude garnered some support from geopolitical tensions after last week’s ratcheted-up U.S. sanctions, while Wednesday’s official report on inventories is expected to show a third consecutive decline in oil supplies, he added.
Earlier Tuesday, the Federal Reserve said U.S. industrial production advanced 0.4% in June, but finished the second quarter with the slowest growth rate in a year. Read more about industrial production.
Consumer prices were unchanged in June, the Labor Department said.
Among other contracts, August gasoline RBQ2 -0.26% turned lower, off less than 1 cent, or 0.1%, to $2.85 a gallon, while heating oil for the same month’s delivery HOQ2 +0.27% trimmed gains, up less than 1 cent, or 0.3%, to $2.84 per gallon.
Natural-gas futures for August NGQ12 +0.75% advanced 3 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.83 per million British thermal units.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid.
