Sunday, July 29, 2012

Crude falls as market digests GDP data, Fed meeting

Forexpros - Crude oil futures fell in Asian trading on Monday on sentiment the U.S. economy is growing at a sluggish pace and in need of less fuels and energy to grow.
The Federal Reserve will announce its latest decision on interest rates this week while the Bureau of Labor Statistics will unveil its July jobs report on Friday, which kept the market awaiting hintsof any need of economic stimulus from the U.S. central bank.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at USD89.92 a barrel on Monday, down 0.24%, off from a session high of USD90.07 and up from an earlier session low of USD89.89.
The U.S gross domestic product grew 1.5% on year during the second quarter, according to advance estimates from the Commerce Department released Friday.
The numbers were largely in line with market expectations, even outpacing some, though they still pointed to a weak recovery and possibly in need of a monetary kick-start.
The Federal Reserve meets this week as does the European Central Bank to discuss monetary policy.
The market spent early Monday gauging the possibility of monetary stimulus, which could send oil climbing, especially if U.S. monetary authorities hint at a need to purchase bonds held by banks, a policy tool known as quantitative easing that weakens the dollar and makes a oil nicely priced commodity.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for September delivery were down 0.08% and trading at USD106.47 a barrel, up USD16.55 from its U.S. counterpart.