(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was trading flat Tuesday morning as traders await cues from today's economic releases from the U.S.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for January delivery edged up $0.04 to $88.65 a barrel. Yesterday, oil moved up 1% as fears over a rate hike by China fizzled out. Commodities capitalized on China's steady interest rate and a weaker dollar.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar moved down to a three-week low versus the euro and slipped to 1-month low against the Swiss Franc, while moving lower versus the yen for a second session.
Traders will look to FOMC rate decision and clues from the accompanying statement.
Data on U.S. retail sales will be out by 8.30 a.m. Economists estimate a 0.5% increase in retail sales and a 0.6% gain in retail sales excluding autos.
At the same time, the U.S. Labor Department will release its report on the producer price index for November. Economists expect the headline index to rise by 0.5% and the core producer price index to grow by 0.2%.
Today after the market hours, the API will release its weekly U.S. crude oil inventories data. Analysts expect crude oil inventories to dip by 3 million barrels and gasoline stocks to move up by 2 million barrels in the week ended December 10.
