Crude oil prices are slightly lower Thursday, dragged down by a stronger U.S. dollar after Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen's hinted at an interest rate hike as early as next spring.
Data from the Energy Information Administration that revealed U.S. crude oil inventories to have jumped by a more than expected 5.9 million barrels in the week ended March 14, is contributing as well to oil's decline.
Crude Oil futures for April is down $0.34 or 0.34 percent at $100.03 a barrel.
Natural Gas is down $0.08 or 1.81 percent at $4.40 per million btu.
Investors will be looking ahead to data on U.S. existing home sales, jobless claims and manufacturing activity.
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Market Analysis
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.