The price of crude oil was steady above $106 Thursday morning amid concerns over the supply situation.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for April delivery, edged up $0.05 to $106.33 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended flat amid some weak economic data from the euro zone and China, a strengthening dollar and continued supply concerns from Iran in the middle east.
Wednesday after the market hours, the API said crude oil inventories increased by 3.55 million barrels and gasoline stocks were up by 314,000 barrels in the week ended February 17.
This morning, the U.S. dollar slipped back to a 2-month low versus the euro and ticking lower against sterling. The buck moved back to a 3-month low against the Swiss franc and leveling off from its 7-month high versus the yen
In economic news from the euro zone, German business sentiment improved more than expected in February, according to a survey from the Munich-based Ifo institute. The confidence index rose to 109.6 from 108.3 a month ago. Economists had expected the index to climb to 108.8.
Traders will look to the weekly jobless claims data from the U.S. Labor Department, due out at 8.30 a.m ET. Economists expect the claims to edge up to 355,000 from 348,000 for the previous week.
Today during trading hours, the EIA will release its report on U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ended February 17. Analysts expect crude oil inventories to jump 1.35 million barrels and gasoline stocks to add 250,000 barrels last week.
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