U.S. crude oil futures snapped a two-day gain to settle lower Tuesday, on a strengthening dollar that notched a high since July 2010 and investor concerns over the eurozone crisis. As news reports emerged of a downgrade in Spain's credit rating, investor concerns over oil demand growth in the region increased.
Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for July delivery, dropped $0.10 or 0.1 percent to close at $90.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday.
Crude prices scaled a high of $92.21 a barrel intraday and a low of $90.25.
Earlier today, the U.S. dollar traded around a two-year high versus the euro and a two-month high against the sterling. The buck moved higher against the yen, while trading flat versus the Swiss franc.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, was trading at 82.548 on Tuesday, up from 82.228 in North American trade late Monday. The dollar scaled a high of 82.61 intraday and a low of 82.03.
The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.2476 on Tuesday, as compared to $1.2540 Monday. The euro scaled a high of $1.2575 intraday and a low of 1.2462.
In economic news from south of the border, a report by Standard & Poor's showed that the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index edged up by 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in March compared to a 0.2 percent increase in February.
Separately, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index dropped to 64.9 in May from a downwardly revised 68.7 in April. The drop surprised economists, who had expected the index to edge up to 69.7 from the 69.2 originally reported for the previous month. With the unexpected decrease, the consumer confidence index is at its lowest level since coming in at 61.5 in January.
From the eurozone, Germany's import price inflation slowed for the seventh consecutive month in April, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed. The import price index increased 2.3 percent on an annual basis in April, slower than the 3.1 percent growth seen in March. The rate of growth slowed regularly since September 2011. Excluding crude oil and mineral oil products, the import price inflation was 1.4 percent during the month, data showed.
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