Forexpros – Crude oil futures erased losses in choppy trade on Tuesday, re-approaching the previous session’s 15-week high following the release of better-than-expected U.S. economic data.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at USD99.28 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, jumping 1.07%.
It earlier rose by as much as 1.15% to trade at a daily high of USD99.37 a barrel. Prices rose to USD99.66 a barrel on Monday, the highest since July 26.
The U.S. Commerce Department said earlier that retail sales rose more-than-expected in October, increasing 0.5%, while core retail sales also beat expectations, climbing 0.6%.
Additionally, the U.S. Labor Department reported U.S. wholesale prices in October dropped at the fastest monthly pace since February 2010. The producer price index, which measures how manufacturers and wholesalers pay for goods and materials, fell 0.3% in October.
The decline potentially gives the Federal Reserve more leeway to introduce further stimulus measures to boost the U.S. economy.
A separate report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that manufacturing activity in the New York-region expanded for the first time in six months in November.
The U.S. is the world’s largest oil consuming nation and manufacturing numbers are used as indicators for fuel demand growth.
Crude prices declined during early European trade after Italy’s 10-year bond yields rose to near unsustainable levels, climbing above 7%, while Spanish 10-year yields rose above 6% for the first time since the European Central Bank started to buy the country’s bonds in August.
Meanwhile, markets were awaiting fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of oil demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles fell by 1.2 million barrels last week, while gasoline supplies were forecast to fall by 1.0 million barrels.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for December delivery added 0.62% to trade at USD111.97 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD12.69 a barrel.
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