Crude Oil Ends Lower Ahead Of Supply Data, Fed Meet

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil ended lower on Monday, after some soft economic data from the U.S. showed new home sales to have dropped more than expected in December and ahead of the two-day U.S. Federal Reserve policy meet beginning Tuesday. Investors also mulled over the weekly U.S. inventory data due later this week, with the US dollar trading mixed against a basket of major currencies.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for March delivery, the most actively traded contract, shed $0.92 or 1.0 percent to close at $95.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday.

Crude prices for March delivery scaled a high of $97.18 a barrel intraday and a low of $95.21.

Last week oil rebounded nearly 3 percent after data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed distillate stockpiles to have declined more than expected last week, not withstanding a better than expected rise in crude and gasoline inventories.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 80.50 on Monday, a tad higher from its previous close of 80.48 late Friday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 80.56 intraday and a low of 80.30.

The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.3669 on Monday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3678 late Friday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3716 intraday and a low of $1.3654.

In economic news, new home sales in the U.S. fell much more than anticipated in December, a Commerce Department report showed Monday, with sales pulling back further off the five-year high set in October. New home sales tumbled 7.0 percent to an annual rate of 414,000 in December from the revised 445,000 in November. Economists expected sales to dip to 455,000 from the 464,000 originally reported for the previous month.

With the steep drop, new home sales pulled back further off the rate of 463,000 seen in October, which was the highest since July of 2008. Despite the drop, new home sales are up 4.5 percent compared to the December 2012 estimate of 396,000.

From the eurozone, German business confidence rose more-than-expected in January, reports citing survey results from the Ifo Institute said. The business confidence index climbed to 110.6 in January from 109.5 a month ago. Economists expected the score at 110. The expectations index improved more than anticipated to 108.9 from 107.4, compared to an estimate of 108.

During this week, investor focus will be on the consumer confidence surveys for January from the Conference Board and the Reuters and the University of Michigan combine, advance fourth quarter GDP estimate, the jobless claims report, the Commerce Department's durable goods orders report and the personal income and spending reports, both for December. The 2-day FOMC meeting beginning Tuesday will also be under the radar.

Also in focus will be the crude oil inventories data from the American Petroleum Institute due Tuesday and the Energy Information Administration report due Wednesday.