The price of crude oil edged up Tuesday morning as traders await information on damages after Hurricane Sandy hit the U.S. and shut East Coast refineries.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for December delivery, added $0.53 to $86.07 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled lower on demand concerns on the threat posed by Hurricane Sandy with a number of refineries on reduced operation or have shut down production in anticipation of the event. The dollar also strengthened against a basket of major currencies, with investors finding it a safe haven even as the hurricane nears landfall.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was easing from its 2-week high versus the euro and ticking lower against sterling. The buck continued to slip from its 4-month high versus the yen and trading lower against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, euro zone economic confidence dropped less than expected in October, monthly survey from the European Commission showed. The corresponding index came in at 84.5, down from 85.2 in the prior month. Economists had forecast the index to drop to 84.4. The marked decreases in industry and construction outweighed the improvement in the retail trade sector.
Germany's unemployment increased by 20,000 in October from a month ago, data from the Federal Labor Agency showed. It follows an increase of 12,000 each in September and August. Economists were expecting a monthly increase of 10,000 for October.
Traders will look to the release of S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for the month of August from the Standard & Poor's at 9.00 a.m ET. Economists expect the reading to have risen to 1.9 percent from the last month's 1.2 percent.
Today after the market hours, the API will release its US crude oil inventories report for the weekended October 26.
