The price of crude oil was lingering near a 5-month low Monday morning on concerns over demand growth amid the ongoing developments in the euro zone. Traders overlooked China's weekend announcement that it plans to cut its bank reserve requirement by 0.5 percentage points.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for June delivery were down $1.99 to $94.14 a barrel. Last week, oil shed over 2% o end at a 5-month low on concerns over demand growth across Europe in light of the euro zone financial crisis and the changed political scenario. Also worries about China, the second biggest energy consuming nation, returned to the fore after data showed China's industrial production grew the least since 2009 in April and retail sales growth slowed to the weakest in 14 months
This morning, the U.S. dollar was steady near its 4-month high versus the euro and a 3-week high against sterling. The buck was lingering around its monthly low versus the yen, while trading flat against the Swiss franc.
In economic news, euro zone industrial production declined unexpectedly in March, the latest figures from Eurostat showed. Industrial production fell 0.3 percent month-on-month in March, against economists' forecast for a 0.4 percent increase. This followed a 0.8 percent rise in February.
During this week, traders will focus on the results of the manufacturing surveys for May by the New York Federal Reserve and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, the Federal Reserve's industrial production report for April, the Commerce Department's retail sales report for April, the FOMC minutes and the weekly jobless claims report. The National Association of Home Builders' housing market index for May, the housing starts report for April and the consumer price index for April may also draw some attention.
Also, focus will be on the crude oil inventories data from the API, due out Tuesday after the market hours, and the EIA due out the subsequent day.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.