The price of crude oil was holding on to its previous session’s gains Tuesday morning even as Moody’s on Monday stripped France of its triple A rating with a one notch downgrade.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for January delivery, eased $0.14 to $89.14 a barrel. Yesterday oil gained nearly 3 percent to settle near monthly high on a weak dollar and concerns over supply disruption as tensions between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza in the Middle East intensified. Investor sentiments climbed, tracking gains made by global equity markets on hopes of a deal in the U.S. fiscal cliff talks.
This morning, the U.S. dollar slipped back near a 2-week low versus the euro and lingering near a weekly low against sterling. The buck was hovering around its 7-month high versus the yen, while ticking lower against the Swiss franc.
In economic news from the euro zone, Germany’s industrial producer price inflation weakened more than economists expected in October, data released by statistical office Destatis showed. The producer price index rose 1.5 percent year-on-year in October, after gaining 1.7 percent in September. Economists had forecast growth to ease to 1.6 percent.
Meanwhile, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed Switzerland’s foreign trade surplus increased notably in October. The trade surplus rose to CHF 2.8 billion in October from CHF 1.93 billion in September. On an unadjusted basis, exports fell 7.7 percent year-on-year in October. This followed a 6.4 percent slump in September.
Traders will look to the housing starts data for October from the Commerce Department, due out at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect housing starts to decline to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 836,000 in October from 872,000 for September. Building permits, an indicator of future housing activity, is expected to drop to 865,000 from 894,000.
Today after the market hours, the API will release its US crude oil inventories report for the weekended November 16.
by RTT Staff Writer
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