By Laura Mandaro and John Spence, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices fell Thursday, weighed by a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing and a jump in oil inventories.
Crude for February delivery (CLG11 90.18, -0.94, -1.03%) was down 95 cents, or 1%, to $90.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Weighing on prices, the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday said crude-oil inventories rose 3.1 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 24. Gasoline stocks fell 3.1 million barrels, while distillate stocks gained 1.38 million barrels, the trade group estimated.
The data “was on the bearish side, but prices seem to be taking the release in stride,” said MF Global analyst William Copp.
Also, data released in Asian trading showed Chinese manufacturing growth slowed in December to a three-month low. Read more on China manufacturing.
The Energy Information Administration releases its weekly oil inventories report Thursday at 11 a.m., a day later than usual due to last week’s Christmas holiday.
Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires expect inventories fell 2.9 million barrels, while gasoline inventories rose 1.2 million barrels. They forecast distillates, including heating oil and diesel, fell 800,000 barrels.
Natural-gas futures were up 5 cents at $4.35 per million British thermal units ahead of the EIA’s weekly inventories report.
Analysts polled by Platts expect the EIA to report a withdrawal of between 145 billion and 149 billion cubic feet from gas-storage stocks for the week ending Dec. 24.
The day’s U.S. data contained some good news.
Weekly jobless claims fell by 34,000 to 388,000 in the latest week, the Labor Department said. The report was better than economists expected. See full story on the jobs report.
