Investing.com - Crude oil prices eased on Thursday in early Asia as OPEC looks unlikely to make any significant cuts to production and ahead of a holiday in the U.S> that will close markets.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for delivery in January traded at $73.48 a barrel, down 0.12%, after hitting an overnight session low of $73.33 a barrel and off a high of $74.44 a barrel.
The global Brent contract for January fell 0.7%, to $77.75 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, also a four-year low.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is gathering in Vienna for its most closely watched meeting in years, and observers are growing pessimistic about the cartel making any big moves to stop the 30% slide in prices since the summer.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Wednesday that he expected the market "to stabilize itself eventually," breaking his silence on the state of the market.
Overnight, crude futures slipped on Wednesday after a tepid batch of U.S. indicators cast doubts on the strength of recovery in the world's largest consumer of crude, while doubts that OPEC will move to shore up prices on Thursday dampened demand for oil as well.
The Labor Department reported earlier that the number of individuals filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose to 313,000 last week, a gain of 21,000. It was the highest level since early September, confounding market calls for a decrease of 5,000.
The number of continuing claims fell to a 14-year low of 2.31 million, indicating that the jobs market is still recovering.
At the same time, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. personal spending rose 0.2% in October, below forecasts for an increase 0.4%. Personal income also rose 0.2%, falling short of forecasts of 0.4%, which took its toll on oil by stoking concerns that demand for fuel and energy might not be as strong in the U.S. going forward if recovery softens.
Elsewhere, the Census Bureau reported that durable goods orders rose 0.4% last month, beating expectations for a decline of 0.4%, but core durable goods orders, which are stripped of volatile transportation components, fell 0.9%, against forecasts for a 0.5% gain.
Also on Wednesday, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index hit 88.8 from 86.9 in October, though still below the preliminary estimate of 89.4.
Industry data revealed that the Chicago purchasing managers’ index fell from 66.2 in October to 60.8 this month, below expectations of a figure of 63.1.
Finally, data showed that sales of new homes rose 0.7% in October to an annual rate of 458,000 units, but pending home sales unexpectedly fell 1.1% last month.
Investors were also keeping Thursday's OPEC meeting in focus, with many on the sidelines to see if the cartel cuts output to shore up slumping prices.
While countries like Saudi Arabia have suggested prices should continue to fall, presumably with the aim of sidelining U.S. shale producers, others such as Libya, Iran and Venezuela have advocated cutting production to shore up falling prices.
Oil prices continued to come under pressure, as concerns persisted Wednesday that any OPEC move to cut production may do little to make a dent in today's global supply glut.