Crude holds near $101/bbl as dollar steadies
TOKYO (Oct 21) U.S. crude futures stood little changed near $101 a barrel on Monday after a slight gain in the previous session, as the dollar steadied against the euro and the market awaited the release of U.S. government oil data.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude for November delivery, which expires on Tuesday, was down 4 cents at $100.77 a barrel by 2258 GMT.
* It settled up 14 cents at $100.81 on Friday, as China reported that its economy grew in the third quarter at its quickest pace this year, and as the U.S. dollar weakened.
* London Brent crude for December delivery was unchanged at $109.94 a barrel, after settling up 83 cents.
* Saudi Arabia increased its oil exports by 325,000 barrels a day (bpd) in August compared with July to 7.795 million bpd, the latest official data published by the Joint Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Sunday.
* The world's largest oil exporter produced 10.19 million bpd of crude, up 156,000 bpd from July.
* U.S. oil demand rose 2.7 percent in September compared to year-ago levels due to the stronger economy and export demand, according to monthly data from the American Petroleum Institute.
* Oil demand increased by 1.7 percent for the third quarter compared with 2012 levels, while gasoline demand rose by 1.2 percent for the three month period and distillate consumption increased by 2.1 percent.
* The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release weekly oil data for the week ended Oct. 11 later in the day, as the U.S. data clog begins to clear.
* The normal release schedule will resume after that, with oil data for the week to Oct. 18 released on Wednesday.
MARKETS NEWS
* The S&P 500 closed at a record high for the second straight day on Friday to cap its biggest weekly gain in three months as stronger-than-expected earnings from Google, Morgan Stanley and others overshadowed worry that earnings growth was faltering.
* U.S. September payrolls numbers, expected two weeks ago, will be released on Tuesday to start a flow of economic data delayed because of the 16-day government shutdown that ended on Thursday.
* The dollar was unchanged on Monday against the euro after hitting eight-and-a-half-month lows on Friday on expectations the Federal Reserve will delay scaling back its monetary stimulus following this month's political battles over the U.S. budget
