Crude Oil Ends Higher Ahead Of Supply Data, Fed

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil ended higher on Tuesday, tracking rising global equity markets with the dollar trending lower against some major currencies. Investors also look ahead to the official inventories data due Wednesday, while awaiting the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its oil report for the week ended October 23 tomorrow, which is expected to show a significant rise in inventories. Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly oil status report later today.

Besides the oil status reports, the focus is mainly on the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, due Wednesday. It is widely speculated that the Fed may not start hiking interest rates any time soon.

Although some Fed officials commented recently that the Fed may delay the end of the asset purchase program a bit, most economists expect policy makers will vote to fully wind down QE3.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, gained $0.42 or 0.5 percent to close at $81.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday.

Crude prices for December delivery scaled a high of $81.66 a barrel intraday and a low of $80.36.

On Monday, crude oil futures ended flat at $81.00 a barrel, after declining to a low of $79.44 a barrel intraday, not far off from a near 28-month low of $79.10 on October 16.

Oil prices came off their lows on Monday as the dollar weakened on the back of a downbeat U.S. pending home sales report. Crude oil tumbled earlier in the day after Goldman Sachs Group lowered its oil price forecast for next year, indicating excess supply from non-OPEC producers will outpace global demand.

Goldman Sachs expects U.S. West Texas crude to fall to as low as $70 a barrel and London's Brent to $80 a barrel during the second quarter of 2015. Crude had declined to a low of $79.10 on October 16, the lowest level since June 2012.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 85.38 on Tuesday, down from its previous close of 85.58 late Monday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 85.68 intraday and a low of 85.24.

The euro trended higher against the dollar at $1.2739 on Tuesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.2699 late Monday in North American trade. The euro scaled a high of $1.2764 intraday and a low of $1.2686.

In economic news, from the U.S., a report from the Commerce Department showed durable goods orders to have declined 1.3 percent in September, falling for a second successive month. Economists expected durable goods orders to rise 0.5 percent month-over-month.

Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders fell by a modest 0.2 percent in September compared to a 0.7 percent increase in the previous month. Excluding transportation orders were expected to rise 0.5 percent.

A report from the Conference Board showed U.S. consumer confidence to have climbed to 94.5 in October, rebounding from an upwardly revised 89.0 in September. Economists expected the index to edge up to 87.0 from the 86.0 originally reported for the previous month.

Standard & Poor's S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index increased at an annual rate of 5.6 percent in August, reflecting a notable slowdown from the 6.7 percent growth reported for July. Economists expected the pace of year-over-year growth to slow to 5.8 percent.

From Europe, U.K. house prices in September declined for the first time in six months, data from Land Registry showed Tuesday. House prices dropped 0.2 percent in September from August, when prices were up 1.1 percent. This was the first decline since March.