Investing.com - Crude oil futures moved higher during U.S. afternoon hours Monday, as an oil strike in Norway counteracted global slowdown concerns.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at USD85.62 a barrel during U.S. afternoon trade, climbing 1.41%.
Oil prices came under pressure amid concerns over a deeper-than-expected slowdown in China. Government data released earlier showed that consumer price inflation accelerated at the slowest rate since January 2010 in June.
Investors were looking ahead to Chinese economic data due out later this week, including second quarter growth figures, to gauge whether China is a heading towards a hard or a soft landing.
China is the world's second largest oil consumer after the U.S. and has been the engine of strengthening demand.
Concerns over the pace of the U.S. economic recovery resurfaced after official data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added just 80,000 jobs in June, below market expectations for a gain of around 90,000.
Although the employment report was weaker than expected, many investors said it was not bad enough to spur the Federal Reserve to launch a third round of quantitative easing.
But prices found some support after the Norwegian Oil Industry Association said earlier that the nation’s oil strike will continue for a 15th day as talks supervised by a state mediator broke down over the weekend.
According to the NOIA, Norway's oil companies are prepared to completely shut down production if the government does not intervene by midnight.
About 15% of Norway’s oil production has already been affected by the work stoppage.
Norway is the world’s eighth largest oil producer and the fifth largest exporter.
Meanwhile, investors were awaiting a meeting of euro zone finance ministers later in the day to discuss a plan announced last month to help the region’s indebted nations and banking systems.
Investors continued to monitor rising bond yields for peripheral euro zone nations, amid sustained fears over the region’s debt crisis.
Spanish 10-year yields rose above the psychologically important 7% earlier, hitting 7.11%, reversing the decline made in wake of last week’s European Union summit. Similar-maturity Italian yields increased to 6.13%.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for August delivery eased up 0.15% to trade at 98.35 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD14.02.
London-traded Brent prices rallied to a three-week high of USD102.33 a barrel on July 5.
Brent prices have been well-supported in recent sessions amid concerns over a disruption to supplies from Norway and a launch of Western-led sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at USD85.62 a barrel during U.S. afternoon trade, climbing 1.41%.
Oil prices came under pressure amid concerns over a deeper-than-expected slowdown in China. Government data released earlier showed that consumer price inflation accelerated at the slowest rate since January 2010 in June.
Investors were looking ahead to Chinese economic data due out later this week, including second quarter growth figures, to gauge whether China is a heading towards a hard or a soft landing.
China is the world's second largest oil consumer after the U.S. and has been the engine of strengthening demand.
Concerns over the pace of the U.S. economic recovery resurfaced after official data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added just 80,000 jobs in June, below market expectations for a gain of around 90,000.
Although the employment report was weaker than expected, many investors said it was not bad enough to spur the Federal Reserve to launch a third round of quantitative easing.
But prices found some support after the Norwegian Oil Industry Association said earlier that the nation’s oil strike will continue for a 15th day as talks supervised by a state mediator broke down over the weekend.
According to the NOIA, Norway's oil companies are prepared to completely shut down production if the government does not intervene by midnight.
About 15% of Norway’s oil production has already been affected by the work stoppage.
Norway is the world’s eighth largest oil producer and the fifth largest exporter.
Meanwhile, investors were awaiting a meeting of euro zone finance ministers later in the day to discuss a plan announced last month to help the region’s indebted nations and banking systems.
Investors continued to monitor rising bond yields for peripheral euro zone nations, amid sustained fears over the region’s debt crisis.
Spanish 10-year yields rose above the psychologically important 7% earlier, hitting 7.11%, reversing the decline made in wake of last week’s European Union summit. Similar-maturity Italian yields increased to 6.13%.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for August delivery eased up 0.15% to trade at 98.35 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD14.02.
London-traded Brent prices rallied to a three-week high of USD102.33 a barrel on July 5.
Brent prices have been well-supported in recent sessions amid concerns over a disruption to supplies from Norway and a launch of Western-led sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports.