The price of crude oil was moving lower Friday morning amid cautious trade as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Vienna to set production levels. Just before their closed session meeting, oil ministers said they expected the OPEC to leave its 30 million bpd output target unchanged for the rest of this year.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for July delivery, shed $0.36 to $93.25 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled higher mostly on bargain hunting and a weak dollar, after having plunged 2 percent in the previous session to a four-week low amid demand growth concerns. The spike came despite the more-than-expected increase in U.S. crude stockpiles last week
Thursday during trading hours, the EIA said U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 3.00 million barrels to 397.60 million barrels in the weekended May 24, which are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year and at their highest level since EIA began collecting data in 1978. Meanwhile, gasoline stocks moved down by 1.50 million barrels. Analysts expected crude oil inventories to dip 500,000 barrels and gasoline stocks to shed a similar 500,000 barrels last week.
This morning the U.S. dollar was recovering from its three-week low versus the euro and moved back toward a two-week high against sterling. The buck continued to linger around its three-week low versus the Swiss franc, while steady near its 4-year high versus the yen.
In economic news, euro zone annual inflation accelerated in May for the first time in nine months, preliminary data from Eurostat showed. Inflation rose to 1.4 percent from April's 1.2 percent, in line with economists' expectations. The figure climbed for the first time since August last year, when it was 2.6 percent. The European Central Bank targets inflation "below, but close to 2 percent".
German retail sales grew for the first time in three months in April, the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office showed. Sales rose 1.8 percent year-on-year in April compared with forecast of 1.1 percent growth. This followed a 2.5 percent drop in March and a 2.8 percent fall in February.
British consumer confidence improved more than expected to a six-month high in May as households remained upbeat about their personal finances as well as the overall economic situation, a survey by GfK NOP showed. The consumer confidence index climbed to minus 22 in May from minus 27 in April, while economists had forecast a reading of minus 26.
From the U.S., the Commerce Department will release its personal income and spending report for April at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect personal income growth of 0.1 percent month-over-month, while personal spending is expected to have remained unchanged.
