Oil down despite speculation of OPEC supply cut

Oil futures declined modestly during Friday’s Asian session even amid speculation the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will pare crude shipments this month. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures fell 0.02% to USD97.30 per barrel in Asian Friday after up settling up 0.24% at USD97.24 a barrel on Thursday in the U.S. On Thursday, it appeared traders focused more on U.S. economic news than the comparable headlines out of Europe. Data showed the euro zone’s fourth-quarter GDP contracted by 0.6%, well below expectations for a
0.4% quarterly decline and far surpassing the previous 0.1% contraction. It was the worst rate of contraction since 2009 and the third straight quarter of negative growth. Typically, economists consider an economy to be in recession with two consecutive negative GDP readings. Other reports showed Germany’s fourth-quarter GDP contracted by 0.6%, below expectations calling for a 0.5% drop. France’s fourth-quarter GDP shrank 0.3% while Italy’s contracted by 0.9%. In U.S. economic news, initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 27,000 last week to 341,000 claims. Economists expected a decrease of just 6,000. The less volatile four-week moving average rose by 1,500 to 352,500. OPEC is expected to pare shipments by almost 1% this month due to production interruptions in Saudi Arabia, the cartel’s largest producer. Should West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, finish with a weekly gain it will be the ninth time in the past 10 weeks. Oil also got a lift on reports that United Nations inspectors continue to butt heads with OPEC member Iran regarding inspection of that country’s nuclear facilities. Elsewhere, Brent futures for April delivery fell 0.14% to USD117.87 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

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