Investing.com - U.S. oil futures fluctuated between small gains and losses on Tuesday, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said that the central bank was likely to continue tapering its monthly bond-buying program in measured steps in future meetings.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in March traded in a range between USD99.61 a barrel and USD100.49 a barrel.
Nymex oil prices last traded at USD100.03 a barrel during U.S. morning hours, down 0.03%. The March contract hit USD100.55 a barrel on Monday, the highest since December 27, before trimming gains to settle at USD100.06 a barrel, up 0.18%.
Nymex oil futures were likely to find support at USD99.11 a barrel, the low from February 10 and resistance at USD100.75 a barrel, the high from December 27.
In prepared remarks released before her testimony to Congress later in the day, Fed Chair Yellen said that the central bank would taper the pace of its asset purchases at future meetings if the economy continued to improve as expected.
“Let me emphasize that I expect a great deal of continuity in the Federal Open Market Committee’s approach to monetary policy,” Yellen said in remarks prepared for a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.
She added that the pace of the central bank’s bond purchases are not on a “preset course”, while reiterating that Fed plans to hold interest rates at zero “well past” the time the jobless rate falls below 6.5%.
The testimony is coming amid fresh concerns over the outlook for the recovery, following the weakest two-month stretch of U.S. job creation in three years in December and January.
The Fed tapered its monthly asset purchase program by another USD10 billion to USD65 billion a month at its last policy meeting.
Investors now looked ahead to U.S. weekly supply data to gauge the strength of oil demand from the world’s largest consumer.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 3 million barrels in the week ended February 7.
The data was also expected to show that distillate stockpiles, including heating oil and diesel, decreased by 2.3 million barrels.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil futures for March delivery tacked on 0.3% to trade at USD108.93 a barrel, while the spread between the Brent and U.S. crude contracts stood at USD8.90 a barrel.