WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil futures settled slightly down on Thursday, after having moved up sharply in the previous session after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week.
Concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China, and reports that Chinese officials ended the Third Plenum without offering any detail on any measures to stimulate the nation's economy weighed on oil prices.
The dollar's recovery weighed as well on prices.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.03 at $82.82 a barrel.
Brent crude futures were up marginally at $85.14 a barrel a little while ago.
Rising optimism about and interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September, and the third weekly drop in U.S. crude inventories helped lift oil prices in the previous session.
Data from the Labor Department that showed an increase in U.S. jobless claims raised some concerns about the outlook for oil demand.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 4.9-million-barrel decrease in crude stocks last week, while analysts had expected inventories to rise by 0.8 million barrels.
At 440.2 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 5 percent below the five-year average for this time of year, the EIA said.
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