MW: Oil futures edge higher ahead of inventory data
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures edged higher on Wednesday, but caution dominated sentiment ahead of government data that's expected to show a rise in crude inventories.
Crude oil for January delivery gained 28 cents, or 0.4%, to $76.30 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
The contract earlier rose to an intraday high of $76.60 a barrel. Oil prices fell 2% on Tuesday.
"We view the current oil-price development as a sign of relative weakness and see the risk of price erosion towards $75 a barrel," said analysts at Commerzbank AG.
"The U.S. inventory data may trigger this price decline, after yesterday's API data showed an unexpectedly sharp build-up in crude-oil stocks," they wrote in a note to clients.
The American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday that crude-oil supplies rose 3.4 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 20.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its more closely watched report at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
Analysts polled by Platts expect a rise of 1.4 million barrels in crude supplies. They also expect a rise of 500,000 barrels in gasoline inventories and unchanged distillate supplies.
The EIA is also expected to report on Wednesday an addition of 3 billion to 7 billion cubic feet to natural-gas-storage inventories for the week ended Nov. 20.
The report will be released a day early due to the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
In the currency markets, the dollar dropped sharply against its rivals. The euro rose 0.8% to $1.5074. The dollar index (DXY 74.55, -0.52, -0.70%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.8% to 74.459.
Stock futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street, as investors drew optimism from the Federal Reserve's more upbeat outlook on the U.S. economy.
Traders will receive a string of economic data on Wednesday, including the final November reading of the University of Michigan's consumer-sentiment survey that's due at 10 a.m.
Also on tap at 8:30 a.m. are weekly initial jobless claims, durable-goods orders and personal income. New-home sales for October will be released at 10 a.m.
Elsewhere in the commodity markets, gold futures climbed to a record above $1,180 an ounce. See Metals Stocks.
