* Oil slumps on equities fall, dollar rise
* U.S. retail sales, industrial production data awaited
* Coming Up: U.S. companies' Q2 earnings season
(Recasts, updates with settlement prices, quotes)
By Brian Ellsworth
NEW YORK, July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures fell
below $75 per barrel on Monday on profit-taking ahead of
earnings season, following gains in the previous three
sessions.
Crude benefited from a broad rally by the U.S. dollar
sparked by concerns about European banks, while seesawing
equities provided little direction for petroleum markets amid
little news about economic and supply fundamentals.
A firmer dollar often pushes commodities down as it makes
them more expensive for holders of other currencies.
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COLUMN-Hedge fund oil positions fall []
COLUMN-Paradise lost for commods longs? []
TECHNICALS-Oil may fall to $64.24 []
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Crude for August delivery <CLc1> settled down $1.14, or 1.5
percent, to $74.95 a barrel after closing last week with a gain
of more than 5 percent, -- its biggest weekly jump since May.
Brent crude <LCOc1> was down $1.05 at $74.37 a barrel.
"(It was) just profit-taking and absence of direction in
the equities markets," said Tom Knight, a trader with Truman
Arnold, in Texarkana, Texas. "There is very little market
moving news right now. Everyone is waiting for corporate
earnings."
Stocks slumped early in the session over concerns about
European banks, but by late trade had rallied into positive
territory.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was up 0.18
percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up
0.04 percent. The U.S. dollar <.DXY> rallied 0.35 percent as
concerns about Europe's finances weighed on the euro.
Traders looked ahead to quarterly U.S. company earnings
that begin late Monday, as well as U.S. retail sales and
industrial production data later this week that will help gauge
the strength of the U.S. economic recovery.
"We're at a mid-range valuation now after people got a
little bit excited last week," said Tim Evans, an analyst with
Citi Futures in New York." We still lack any strong bullish
fundamentals."
Oil rose of 5.5 percent last week, the largest weekly gain
since the week to May 28. It rose on Monday to as high as
$76.43 per barrel following figures showing a 43.9 percent
surge in Chinese exports in June from a year earlier.
[]
Crude imports in the world's second-largest energy user
rose by a quarter to hit a record high above 22 million tonnes.
[]
VOLATILITY FALLING
The market is close to the average closing price over the
last year, now around $75.50. U.S. crude is well below a
19-month peak above $87 reached in early May but has rebounded
sharply from below $65 on May 20.
Implied volatility <CLATMIV> for U.S. crude has fallen to
around 31 percent after hitting a peak above 45 percent in
May.
Investors have unwound long positions in the past couple of
weeks, implying less confidence with the economic outlook.
Net speculative long positions on NYMEX crude were cut by
nearly 20,000 to 55,116 in the week to July 6, data from the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday showed, the
third week of falls. []
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Graphic; http://link.reuters.com/saj96m
Graphic;http://link.reuters.com/qex96
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(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Osamu
Tsukimori and Florence Tan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Sofina
Mirza-Reid)
