After snapping its four-session losing streak in the previous session, the price of crude oil was moving lower Thursday morning as traders await cues from the inflation data out of the US.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for July delivery, the most actively traded contract, lost $0.62 to $93.94 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled marginally higher with the Energy Information Administration's weekly report showing a surprising decline in U.S. crude oil stockpile, even as gasoline inventories unexpectedly edged up last week.
Wednesday during trading hours, the EIA said that US crude oil inventories eased 0.60 million barrels, while gasoline stocks were up 2.60 million barrels in the weekended may 10. Analysts expect crude oil inventories to climb 450,000 barrels and gasoline stocks to shed 1.1 million barrels last week.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was hovering near its 6-week high versus the euro and its 3-week high against sterling. The buck was steady around its 4-year high versus the yen, while trading around its 10-month high against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, euro zone inflation slowed as initially estimated to 1.2 percent in April from 1.7 percent in March, final data from Eurostat showed. Month-on-month, prices were down 0.1 percent. Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, fell to 1 percent from 1.5 percent a month ago.
Separately, the Eurostat said euro zone's trade surplus more than doubled in March from a month ago. The surplus amounted to EUR 22.9 billion in March, higher than EUR 10.1 billion in February. In March 2012, the balance was positive at EUR 6.9 billion.
Traders will look to the inflation data from the U.S. Labor Department, due out at 8.30 a.m ET. Economists expect Economists expect monthly consumer price inflation of a negative 0.3 percent and a core inflation rate of 0.2 percent.
Separately, the Department is due to release its jobless claims report for the week ended May 11. Economists expect claims to have increased to 330,000 from 323,000 in the previous week.
Around the same time, the Commerce Department is due to release its housing starts report for April. The consensus expectations call for housing starts to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 969,000 in April, while building permits are estimated at 945,000.
