The price of crude oil was moving lower Wednesday morning on profit taking even as traders await more cues on Syria situation.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for October delivery, lost $0.70 to $107.84 a barrel. Yesterday, oil settled higher on the back of some upbeat manufacturing activity data out of the U.S. and China, lifting demand growth outlook prospects for oil. The developments over military action against Syria also contributed to the uptick in oil prices.
President Obama expressed confidence the Congress would approve his military action plan against Syria, prior to a White House meeting. Meanwhile, investors continued to be anxious with supply disruption concerns over an immediate military intervention against Syria by the U.S. and its allies.
This morning the U.S. dollar was hovering around its 6-week high versus the euro and a three-week high against the Swiss franc. The buck was trading flat versus sterling and the yen.
In economic news from the euro zone, activity in the German private sector economy increased for the fourth successive month in August final data from a survey conducted jointly by Markit Economics and BME showed. The seasonally adjusted composite output index, a measure of activity in the manufacturing sector and the service sector, rose to a seven-month high 53.5 in August from 52.1 in July. The preliminary estimates were for a score of 53.4.
Meanwhile, the euro zone private sector expanded at the fastest pace in just over two years, but the rate of growth was slightly weaker than initially estimated in August, final survey data from Markit Economics showed. The composite output index rose to 51.5 in August from 50.5 in July. The final reading was slightly below the flash estimate of 51.7.
A report from Eurostat revealed that retail sales in euro zone increased less than expected in July. Sales rose 0.1 percent in July from a month earlier compared with forecast for a 0.2 percent growth. This followed a 0.7 percent decline in June.
Traders will look to the release of trade balance report for July from the US Commerce Department, due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. The consensus estimates call for a widening of the trade deficit to $39 billion from $34.2 billion for June.
Today after the market hours, the API will release its crude oil inventories report for the weekended August 30.
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Market Analysis
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.