MW: Oil down but pares loss after claims, retail data
By Victor Reklaitis and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures traded lower Thursday but erased losses after better-than-expected reports on consumer and labor-market activity.
Crude oil for July delivery CLN3 -0.21% dipped 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $95.81 a barrel. According to FactSet data, it had dropped as low as $95.08 in electronic trading just a few minutes before the reports, which came out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
U.S. jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 334,000 in the week ended June 8. That was a better result than the 350,000 claims expected by economists polled by MarketWatch.
U.S. retail sales rose in May by 0.6%, besting forecasts for a 0.5% increase. But the details of the report were mixed.
The better-than-anticipated reports also have helped U.S. stock futures gain back some lost ground.
Oil on Thursday was under pressure although the U..S. dollar DXY -0.06% dropped against major rivals. A decline in the dollar tends to help dollar-denominated oil and other commodities, as it makes them less expensive to holders of other currencies.
London-traded Brent July crude UK:LCON3 +0.15% also fell Thursday, losing 12 cents, or 0.1%, to $103.37 a barrel. But it had dipped as low as $102.99 just a few minutes before the reports on U.S. jobless claims and retail sales.
The oil market has received largely bearish updates this week, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration saying Wednesday that crude-oil supplies rose by 2.5 million barrels for the week ended June 7, to 393.8 million barrels.
Analysts polled by Platts were looking for no change.
Also Wednesday, the International Energy Agency said China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, will use less oil this year than previously expected, although its total oil demand will grow by 3.8%.
But crude still managed to advance Wednesday despite the downbeat oil-market data.
BP PLC on Wednesday said production of oil and natural gas rose faster in the U.S. last year than anywhere in the world. At the same time, U.S. energy demand fell 2.8% last year, the largest decline in the world.
In other moves, July gasoline RBN3 +0.74% added 1 cent, or 0.5%, to $2.82 a gallon, while July heating oil HON3 +0.37% was up 1 cent, or 0.2%, to $2.90 a gallon.
Natural gas for July delivery NGN13 -0.11% was off 5 cents, or 1.4%, to $3.73 per million British thermal units. Investors are awaiting a weekly update on natural gas supplies from the U.S. Energy Information Administration at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
Victor Reklaitis is a New York-based markets writer for MarketWatch. Follow him on Twitter @VicRek.
Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter based in London. Follow her on Twitter @sarasjolin.
