By FX Empire.com

Crude oil prices rose last week in volatile trading amid the high level of uncertainty that is surrounding the outlook of the European debt crisis, as fears and rising debt concerns dominated investors after the G20 summit failed to quell jitters and provide clear decisions to aid the euro-area and prevent the crisis from spreading into other larger economies within the region.

Meanwhile, economic data from the United States showed strong results, however, markets were focused on the Trade Balance for September, where the trade deficit narrowed from $44.9 to $43.1 billion.

Traders are likely to use next week to adjust their positions as they will reflect on the recent data from Europe and the United States, where the retail sales report will be released from Europe and the United States.

Lack of major fundamentals from Europe and the United States this week will shift investors focus to any comments or steps to be made or taken by European lawmakers; however, the main focus will be on the retail sales index from the United States.

The futuristic outlook for crude oil prices is somewhat neutral with a downside tendency, as the outlook for global growth is mostly clouded due to mounting concerns from Europe and the fact that major economies around the globe are still weak, and that should put negative pressure on crude oil prices. Nonetheless, if the outlook for global growth improves, crude oil prices are likely to rise in that case.

Highlights for this week that will probably affect Crude Oil direction are:

Monday November 14:

We don’t have news from the United States, and accordingly, traders will be focused on the developments from Europe.

Tuesday November 15:

The U.S. economy will start the data at 13:30 GMT with the Producer Price Index for October which is expected with 0.1% drop after 0.8% rise and on the year to ease to 6.3% from 6.9%. Excluding food and energy it is expected with 0.1% rise from 0.2% and on the year to rise to 2.9% from 2.5%.

Also at the same time we have the Retail Sales Index for October which is expected to slow with 0.3% gain after 1.1% surge and excluding autos to rise 0.2% after 0.6% rise in September.

As for the Empire Manufacturing Index for November it is expected to ease the contraction to -2.30 from -8.48.

At 15:00 GMT the Business Inventories for September are due and expected to slow to 0.2% from 0.5% previous rise.

Wednesday November 16:

The inflation week continues in the United States with the Consumer Price Index for October at 13:30 GMT. The index is expected to show a flat reading after a gain of 0.3%, while on a yearly basis, the index will probably ease to 3.6% from 3.9%. Core CPI is expected is expected to remain at 0.1% in line with September and on the year to rise to 2.1% from 2.0%.

At 14:00 GMT we have September’s TIC flows after Total net TIC Flows rose to $89.6 billion in August.

At 14:15 GMT we have the Industrial Production for October which is expected to rise by 0.4% after 0.2% and Capacity Utilization to rise to 77.7% after 77.4%.

At 15:30 GMT, the EIA report for crude oil inventories will be released for the week ending November 11, where last week crude oil inventories decreased by 1.4 million barrels.

Thursday November 17:

The U.S. data will start at 13:30 GMT with the housing starts for October which is expected to drop to 610 thousand from 658 thousand and Building Permits on the other hand to rise to 600 thousand from 594 thousand.

At the same time we have the weekly jobless claims for the week ending November 11 after last week they unexpectedly declined to 390 thousand.

The data will end with the Philadelphia Fed Index for November at 15:00 GMT which is expected to improve to 10.0 from 8.7.

Friday November 18:

The United States will end the week at 15:00 GMT with the Leading Indicators for October which are expected to improve to 0.5% from 0.2%.

Originally posted here