The price of crude oil was steady above $90 Monday morning amid hopes for further monetary easing measures by policymakers to boost the ailing euro zone and US economy.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for September delivery, edged down $0.02 to $90.11 a barrel. Last week, oil ended marginally lower, paring most of its intra-week losses, on renewed optimism over the euro zone after assurances from the European leaders on supporting the euro zone.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was leveling off from its 3-week low versus the euro and ticking higher against sterling. The buck was moving higher versus the Swiss franc, while edging lower against the yen.
In economic news, euro zone economic sentiment deteriorated in July due to lower confidence in all sectors, survey data from the European Commission showed. The economic sentiment index came in at 87.9, down from 89.9 a month ago. The reading was also below expectations of 88.9.
Elsewhere, the Spanish economy contracted 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, in line with Bank of Spain estimates, the latest figures from the statistical office INE showed Separately, the statistical office said Spain's harmonized inflation rose to 2.2 percent in July from 1.8 percent in June.
During this week traders focus will be on the FOMC meeting and the monthly non-farm payrolls report. These apart, the Commerce Department's personal income and spending report for June, the results of the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing and service sector surveys, the ISM-Chicago's manufacturing survey, the ADP's private sector payrolls report, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index for July and the weekly jobless claims report will be under the traders' radar.
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.
by RTT Staff Writer
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