(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was little changed Thursday morning as traders await today's economic data from the U.S.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for February delivery edged down $0.20 to $91.66 a barrel. Yesterday, oil advanced to a 27-month high after an official data revealed decline in weekly U.S. crude inventories.
Wednesday during trading hours the EIA said U.S. crude oil inventories were down by 2.2 million barrels, while gasoline stocks moved up by 5.10 million barrels in the week ended January 07. Analysts were expecting crude oil inventories to drop by 1.4 million barrels, while gasoline stocks are seen rising by 2.1 million barrels.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was edging lower versus the euro and sterling, extending overnight losses. The greenback was ticking higher against the Swiss Franc, while struggling for direction versus the yen. The European Central Bank today left its rates unchanged at 1% and the Bank of England held its rates steady at 0.5%.
Today, traders will focus on the trade gap data for November, slated for release at 8:30 a.m ET. Economists estimate that the trade gap widened to $41 billion from the earlier $38.7 billion.
At the same time, the U.S. Labor Department will release its report on the producer price index for December. Economists expect the headline index to rise by 0.8% and the core producer price index to move up 0.2%.
The Labor Department will also release its report on weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.. Economists expect the claims to decline to 402,000 for the week from 409,000 reported for the previous week.
