Investing.com – Crude oil futures re-approached a four-month low on Monday, as concerns over the growth outlook for the U.S. economy weighed on demand expectations from the world’s largest crude consumer.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at USD90.05 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, tumbling 1.35%.
It earlier fell to USD89.84 a barrel, the lowest price since last Thursday, when prices hit a four-month low of USD89.70.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said earlier that personal spending was unexpectedly flat in May, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% gain. The previous month’s figure was revised down to 0.3% from 0.4%.
It was the weakest reading since June 2010, as higher gas prices and a weak labor market curbed consumer spending.
Personal income rose 0.3%, broadly in line with expectations, while the core personal consumption expenditure index rose 0.3% in May, the largest gain since October 2009.
Comments from IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka over the weekend also weighed on prices.
Speaking at an industry conference in Beijing, Mr. Tanaka said that the agency would continue to monitor energy markets and that it was ready “to act again if needed” to stabilize prices.
Crude prices tumbled 7.7% in the two days following last Thursday’s release of 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves in response to loss of supplies from Libya.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.28% to trade at 76.30, after rising earlier to 76.58, the highest since April 1.
Dollar-denominated oil futures contracts tend to fall when the dollar rises, as this makes oil more expensive for buyers in other currencies.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for August delivery sank 1.6% to trade at USD103.94 a barrel, up USD13.89 on its U.S. counterpart.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at USD90.05 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, tumbling 1.35%.
It earlier fell to USD89.84 a barrel, the lowest price since last Thursday, when prices hit a four-month low of USD89.70.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said earlier that personal spending was unexpectedly flat in May, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% gain. The previous month’s figure was revised down to 0.3% from 0.4%.
It was the weakest reading since June 2010, as higher gas prices and a weak labor market curbed consumer spending.
Personal income rose 0.3%, broadly in line with expectations, while the core personal consumption expenditure index rose 0.3% in May, the largest gain since October 2009.
Comments from IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka over the weekend also weighed on prices.
Speaking at an industry conference in Beijing, Mr. Tanaka said that the agency would continue to monitor energy markets and that it was ready “to act again if needed” to stabilize prices.
Crude prices tumbled 7.7% in the two days following last Thursday’s release of 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves in response to loss of supplies from Libya.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.28% to trade at 76.30, after rising earlier to 76.58, the highest since April 1.
Dollar-denominated oil futures contracts tend to fall when the dollar rises, as this makes oil more expensive for buyers in other currencies.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for August delivery sank 1.6% to trade at USD103.94 a barrel, up USD13.89 on its U.S. counterpart.