The price of crude oil was steady above $90 Monday morning on supply worries amid tensions in Lebanon as Lebanese troops and gunmen exchanged fire in Beirut's southern suburbs earlier today.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for December delivery, added $0.56 to $91.00 a barrel Last week, oil shed nearly 2 percent on some mixed macroeconomic data from the U.S. and China. A strengthening dollar and the more than expected increase in U.S. crude stockpile also impacted crude prices, with investors wary of the outcome from the ongoing European leaders summit meeting.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was lingering around its one-month low versus the euro and leveling off from a two-week high against sterling. The buck was trading flat against the Swiss franc, while advancing to a fresh three-month high versus the yen.
In economic news from the euro zone, a leading indicator of the German economy declined for the sixth consecutive month in August as large declines in consumer confidence and new orders in investment goods industries more than offset positive contributions from stock prices and the yield spread, data from a survey by the Conference Board showed. The leading economic index decreased 0.3 percent on a monthly basis to 102.3 in August, after falling 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent respectively in the previous two months.
Meanwhile, a report from the Eurostat revealed that euro zone government deficit declined for a second consecutive year in 2011, while debt continued to rise. The government deficit fell to 4.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2011 from 6.2 percent in 2010 and 6.3 percent in 2009.
During this week, traders focus will be on the two-day FOMC meeting ending Wednesday, the Commerce Department's new home sales report for September, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales report for September, the advance third quarter GDP estimate and the Commerce Department's durable goods orders for September.
Also, focus will be on the crude oil inventories data from the API, due out Tuesday after the market hours, and the EIA due out the subsequent day.
