The price of crude oil was moving higher Monday morning with the US dollar leveling off from its recent highs versus a basket of currencies.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for April delivery, gained $1.11 to $94.24 a barrel. Last week, oil lost nearly 3 percent to settle near a 5-week low amid rumors of an unwinding of large positions by a commodity hedge fund and a report from the Energy Information Administration showed oil stockpile in the U.S. to have increased more than expected.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was leveling off from its 7-week high versus the euro and hovering around its 30-month high against sterling. The buck was trading around its two-and half year high versus the yen and ticking lower against the Swiss franc.
In economic news from the euro zone, U.K. mortgage approvals declined unexpectedly to 32,288 in January from 33,440 in the prior month, the British Bankers' Association said. It was forecast to rise to 34,000. At the same time, gross mortgage borrowing of GBP 7.7 billion in January was above the recent monthly average.
Italy's merchandise trade with countries outside the European Union (EU) resulted in a deficit in January compared to a surplus in the previous month, preliminary data released by statistical office Istat showed. The trade balance was a deficit of EUR2.28 billion in January, compared the EUR3.32 billion surplus recorded in December.
During this week, traders focus will be on the Commerce Department's new home sales report for January, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index for January, the Commerce Department's durable goods orders report for January, the weekly jobless claims report, the results of the ISM-Chicago's manufacturing survey for February and the results of the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing survey for February. The Commerce Department's personal income and spending report for January, the results of the consumer sentiment surveys of the Conference Board and Reuters and the University of Michigan and some Fed speeches may also draw some attention.
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.
