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Forexpros – Crude oil futures moved lower in U.S. trade Friday, following data on U.S. personal income and a rise in European inflation for the month of September.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for November delivery traded at USD80.80 a barrel in mid-day U.S. trade, falling 1.61%, after hitting a daily high of USD83.33.
On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that personal income in August fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.1%, matching market expectations, while consumer spending rose by 0.2% for the month.
The nearly flat consumer activity figure, combined with early profit taking sent Wall Street shares lower in the Friday session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.97% to 11,044.92, the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.24% to 2,449.79, and the S&P 500 shed 1.14% to 1,146.96.
Earlier Friday, the European Union’s Statistics Office reported that euro-zone inflation jumped by 3% in September, up for 2.5% in August, the largest year on year increase since October of 2008.
The rise in prices quashed hopes that the European Central Bank would be lowering interest rates any time soon, complicating the ECB’s options for addressing the region’s debt concerns.
Meanwhile, a Reuter’s news survey of oil companies showed that supply from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was forecast to average 30.25 million barrels in September, up from 30.15 million in August.
U.S. crude prices dropped by 8.8% in September, their biggest decline since May of 2010.
A rising U.S. dollar added to selling pressure on oil futures, as dollar-denominated futures contracts tend to fall when the dollar rises.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was higher by 0.54% to 78.92.
On the ICE Futures Exchange Brent oil futures for November delivery retreated 0.89% to trade at USD103.03.
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