The price of crude oil was moving higher Thursday morning as traders await cues from the two-day policy meeting by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for October delivery, edged up $0.17 to $97.18 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended lower for the first time in six days after the Energy Information Administration weekly oil report showed an unexpected increase in inventories for the week ended September 07. Investors also anxiously awaited cues from the Federal Reserve meeting that got under way earlier today, with expectations high on further quantitative easing measures forthcoming.
Wednesday during trading hours, a report from the EIA revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories unexpectedly moved up by 2.00 million barrels, while gasoline stocks shed 1.20 million barrels in the weekended September 07. Analysts were expecting crude oil inventories to shed by 2.90 million barrels and gasoline stock to ease1.70 million barrels last week.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was lingering around its four-month low versus the euro and sterling. The buck was extending its seven-month low against the yen, while ticking higher against the Swiss franc.
In economic news from the euro zone, the Swiss National Bank decided to leave the minimum exchange rate unchanged at CHF 1.20 per euro as expected by economists. The central bank also retained the target range for the three-month Libor rate at 0.0-0.25 percent.
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 claims to increase to 370,000 from 365,000 in the previous week.
Separately, the department is scheduled to release its report on the producer price index for August. Economists expect the headline index for August to have risen by 1.4 percent, while core consumer prices may have risen by a more modest 0.2 percent. In July, producer prices and core producer prices climbed by 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
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