The price of crude oil was extending gains Thursday morning on supply concerns after Islamist militants attacked an Algerian gas field and EIA revealed unexpected dip in US crude oil inventories last week.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for February delivery, added $0.36 to $94.60 a barrel. Yesterday, oil rose nearly 1 percent to settle at a fresh 4-month high after a report from the EIA revealed that US crude oil inventories unexpectedly dipped last week.
Wednesday during market hours, the the EIA revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories unexpectedly dipped by 1 million barrels, while gasoline stocks were up 1.90 million barrels in the weekended January 11. Analysts expected crude oil inventories to gain by 2.10 million barrels and gasoline stocks to add 2.3 million barrels last week.
This morning, the U.S. dollar lingering around a 11-month low versus the euro and its 2-week low against sterling. The buck was moving back towards its 30-month high versus the yen and trading flat against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, euro area construction fell further in November, data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, showed. Construction output declined a seasonally adjusted 4.7 percent year-on-year in November, after falling a revised 3.3 percent in October. Building construction fell 5.3 percent, while civil engineering output declined by 3.3 percent.
Traders will look to the weekly jobless claims data from the U.S. Labor Department, due out at 8.30 a.m ET. Economists estimate claims of 368,000, down from 371,000 in the previous week.
Simultaneously, the Commerce Department will release its housing starts report for December. Economists estimate housing starts to come in at an annual rate of 887,000 compared to 861,000 in the previous month. Building permits are expected at 910,000, up from 899,000 in November.
