U.S. crude oil snapped a four-day winning streak to settle lower Monday, on investor anxiety ahead of the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve policy meeting later this week. Nevertheless, investors hopes were pinned on further stimulus after French and German leaders, and the ECB chief pledging to protect the eurozone.
Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for September delivery dropped $0.35 or 0.4 percent to close at $89.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday.
Crude prices scaled a high of $90.95 a barrel intraday and a low of $89.33.
Oil ended higher on renewed optimism over the eurozone after pledges from the European leaders to protect the eurozone no matter whatever it takes.
The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.2259 on Monday, as compared to $1.2298 late Friday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.2310 intraday and a low of $1.2226.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 82.826 on Monday, up from from 82.343 in North American trade late Friday. The dollar scaled a high of 82.99 intraday and a low of 82.71.
In economic news, eurozone economic sentiment deteriorated in July with lower confidence in all sectors, 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 in the second quarter contracted 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter, but was in line with Bank of Spain estimates, data 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.
In focus this week will be the FOMC meeting and the monthly non-farm payrolls report. There will also be 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 that will be under the traders' radar.
Investors will also focus on the crude oil inventories data from the American Petroleum Institute due Tuesday, and the Energy Information Administration's weekly oil report on Wednesday.
by RTT Staff Writer
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