Investing.com - Oil futures fell modestly during Wednesday’s Asian session, paring gains notched on Tuesday in the U.S. as traders seemed to be evaluating a mixed bag of data points.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for March delivery fell 0.04% to USD97.53 per barrel in Asian trading Wednesday. During Tuesday’s U.S. session, crude futures popped 0.97% to settle at USD97.38 per barrel.
Traders bid oil despite some mixed data points out of the U.S., the world’s largest oil consumer. In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board said its January consumer confidence index plunged to 58.6 from 66.7 in December. The January reading is the lowest since November 2011.
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index fell 0.1% in November following a 0.2% drop in October. Ten of 20 cities saw lower prices in November.
Elsewhere, the American Petroleum Institute said its weekly crude stock inventory rose more-than-expected to 4.16 million barrels.
In Europe, the forward looking Gfk German Consumer Climate index, which forecasts consumer confidence, ticked up to 5.8 for February from an upwardly revised 5.7 in January. Analysts were expecting the index to come in at 5.7 for February.
Riskier assets such as oil are sure to be in focus as Wednesday goes along. The Federal Reserve is expected to make comments on monetary policy later today and the U.S. Commerce Department is scheduled to deliver an initial reading on fourth-quarter GDP.
Elsewhere, Russia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, said it intends to deepen its ties with Venezuela to explore for oil in the South American country. Venezuela is South America’s largest oil producer and is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Brent futures for March delivery climbed 0.22% to USD114.44 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for March delivery fell 0.04% to USD97.53 per barrel in Asian trading Wednesday. During Tuesday’s U.S. session, crude futures popped 0.97% to settle at USD97.38 per barrel.
Traders bid oil despite some mixed data points out of the U.S., the world’s largest oil consumer. In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board said its January consumer confidence index plunged to 58.6 from 66.7 in December. The January reading is the lowest since November 2011.
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index fell 0.1% in November following a 0.2% drop in October. Ten of 20 cities saw lower prices in November.
Elsewhere, the American Petroleum Institute said its weekly crude stock inventory rose more-than-expected to 4.16 million barrels.
In Europe, the forward looking Gfk German Consumer Climate index, which forecasts consumer confidence, ticked up to 5.8 for February from an upwardly revised 5.7 in January. Analysts were expecting the index to come in at 5.7 for February.
Riskier assets such as oil are sure to be in focus as Wednesday goes along. The Federal Reserve is expected to make comments on monetary policy later today and the U.S. Commerce Department is scheduled to deliver an initial reading on fourth-quarter GDP.
Elsewhere, Russia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, said it intends to deepen its ties with Venezuela to explore for oil in the South American country. Venezuela is South America’s largest oil producer and is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Brent futures for March delivery climbed 0.22% to USD114.44 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.