Crude Lingers Near 6-month Low

(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was moving lower Monday morning amid concerns over demand growth after last week's report from the OPEC and IEA painted a rosy supply outlook.

Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for December delivery, shed $0.38 to $93.46 a barrel. Last week, oil settled lower amid demand worries after both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency painted a brighter supply outlook for crude oil.

This morning the U.S. dollar was hovering around its 2-week high versus the euro and sterling, while trading near its 2-month high against the yen. The buck was extending losses versus the Swiss franc.

In economic news, euro area current account surplus declined to a seasonally adjusted EUR 13.7 billion in September from EUR 17.9 billion in August, the European Central Bank reported. Data showed that the surplus on goods trade decreased to EUR 13.7 billion from EUR 14.7 billion in August. Likewise, the surplus on services fell to EUR 7.6 billion in September from EUR 8.2 billion.

Meanwhile, euro zone's foreign trade surplus increased markedly in September, the latest data from the statistical office Eurostat showed. The region's trade in goods with the rest of the world resulted in a surplus of EUR 13.1 billion in September, up from EUR 6.9 billion surplus in August. A year earlier, the surplus amounted to 8.6 billion.

From the U.S., the National Association of Home Builders will release its housing market index for November at 10 am ET. The consensus estimates call for the index to have remained unchanged at 55.

During this week, focus will be on the National Association of Realtors' existing home sales report for October, the Commerce Department's retail sales report for October, the FOMC minutes and the results of the November manufacturing survey by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve.

Also, focus will be on the crude oil inventories data from the API, due out Wednesday after the market hours, and the EIA due out the subsequent day.