Crude oil slipped below the $104.50 on Monday amid worries over demand growth; however the weakening dollar and the concerns about supply disruptions are keeping losses limited.
Crude fell for a second day, extending the first weekly drop in more than a month, as investors await the release of China’s manufacturing data later this week, to help gauge the demand outlook, and the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting tomorrow.
- Crude is trading around $104.30 a barrel after falling $0.40
- Brent is trading around $107.11 a barrel after falling $0.06
Also keeping the US dollar rising is the caution ahead of the central bank meetings in UK and Europe this week and as a new round of earnings kicks off.
However, losses are limited as Saudi Arabia signaled it won’t increase production capacity as planned because demand is waning while in Egypt protesters risk new confrontations and Libya was rocked by several explosions triggering supply disruption concerns.
- Natural gas is trading at $3.472 per cubic feet after falling 2.33%
- Gasoline is trading at $3.0515 a gallon after rising 0.23%
- Heating oil is trading at $3.013 a gallon after rising 0.10%