Continuing yesterday’s late slide, crude futures edge lower in early trading over the Asian session as sentiment dropped on the disheartening FOMC minutes release yesterday. At time of writing the front-month crude contract trades at $76.58 a barrel, down nearly $1.50 from yesterday’s peak.
Crude oil prices fluctuated yesterday after the EIA reported a 5.1 million barrel drop in crude inventories compared to the 2.6 million expected, however also announced a slight jump in gasoline supplies and distillates. The off-setting result failed to move prices in any one direction, yet crude stayed buoyed ahead of the FOMC minutes release on a weak US dollar making imports less expensive for non-dollar nations. The discouraging Fed report however, where near-term growth prospects were revised slightly downward sent shares sharply lower with commodities tracking losses in similar fashion. Today, commodity traders will most likely again look towards the equity market for direction as market sentiment battles between growth concerns and expected strong corporate earnings. In particular, investors will have a keen eye out for a slew of economic indicators to be released including the US PPI, the ECB monthly report, and the US weekly jobless claims.