The price of crude oil was ticking lower Thursday morning amid demand growth worries after the World Bank lowered its growth forecasts for the global economy, citing deeper-than-expected recession in the euro area and muted growth in developing countries.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for July delivery, slipped $0.31 to $95.57 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled higher notwithstanding an official Energy Information Administration weekly oil report that showed a sharp, more than expected jump in U.S. crude oil stockpiles last week.
Wednesday during trading hours, the EIA said US crude oil inventories moved up 2.5 million barrels and gasoline stocks gained 2.7 million barrels in the weekended June 07. Analysts expected no change to crude oil inventories, while gasoline stocks were expected to rise by 1 million. Meanwhile, the IEA maintained oil demand projection at 90.6 mbd for 2013, despite projecting higher through-puts in the third quarter 2013.
This morning the U.S. dollar was lingering around its four-month low versus the euro, the Swiss franc and sterling, while moving back toward a fresh two-month low against the yen.
In economic news from the euro zone, Germany's wholesale prices declined for the second consecutive month in May on lower cost of gaseous fuels, Destatis reported. Wholesale prices dropped unexpectedly by 0.1 percent from a year ago, after easing 0.4 percent in April. Economists had forecast a 0.2 percent rise for May.
Traders will look to the weekly jobless claims data out of the US Labor Department at 8.30 a.m ET. Economists expect claims to have increased to 350,000 from 346,000 in the previous week.
Simultaneously, the Labor Department will also release its report on export and import price index for May. The consensus estimates call for a 0.1 month-over-month drop in export prices, while import prices may have remained unchanged in the month.
Around the same time, the Commerce Department will release its retail sales report for May. Economists expect a 0.5 percent month-over-month increase in retail sales and a 0.4 percent increase in retail sales, excluding autos.
