SINGAPORE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Crude was steady below $72 on
Wednesday after tumbling 3.7 percent the previous day on signs
U.S. stockpiles rose further last week and prospects for bad
weather to suppress gasoline demand at the end of the driving
season.
FUNDAMENTALS
* U.S. crude for October <CLc1> shed 3 cents to $71.89 a
barrel by 0041 GMT, not far from an Aug. 25 11-week low of
$70.76. ICE Brent also fell 3 cents, to $74.61.
* Oil fell more than $7 and almost 9 percent in August, the
biggest monthly percentage loss since May, when prices hit a
2010 low of $64.24 on May 20, the weakest front-month price
since July 2009, after reaching a 2010 peak of $87.15 on May 3.
* U.S. crude stockpiles jumped 4.8 million barrels last
week, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute (API)
said on Tuesday, more than four times the expected 1.1 million
barrel gain.
* Drops in fuel stockpiles were smaller than the crude
increase, at 589,000 barrels for gasoline and 1.9 million
barrels for distillates including heating oil and diesel,
according to the API.
* The Energy Information Administration will publish
government statistics on inventories and demand on Wednesday at
1430 GMT. Expectations are for gasoline supplies to have
declined 200,000 barrels and distillates to have gained 1.2
million in the week to Aug. 27, a Reuters survey showed.
* Next Monday's U.S. Labor Day holiday is the traditional
end of the summer driving season and MasterCard said that U.S.
weekly retail gasoline demand fell 3.1 percent last week from
the previous week and managed only a 0.7 percent rise versus
the year-ago period. []
* Hurricanes, now at the peak of the storm season,
potentially could have a greater negative effect on U.S.
gasoline consumption than on crude production and refining.
They have so far posed little threat to rigs and refineries in
the Gulf of Mexico coast.
* Powerful Hurricane Earl churned toward the eastern U.S.
seaboard on Tuesday and looked to sideswipe the densely
populated coast from North Carolina to New England, the U.S.
National Hurricane Center said late on Monday.
* Forecasters expected the main core of the Category 4
hurricane to stay offshore as Earl moved parallel to the coast
during the upcoming Labor Day holiday, disrupting holiday
plans.
* The U.S. National Hurricane Center was monitoring two
other tropical systems in the Atlantic, but computer models
showed no immediate threat to Gulf of Mexico oil
infrastructure. []
* Worries about the U.S. economy have intensified with
recent reports showing a marked economic slowdown. The latest
bad data included an index of business activity in the U.S.
Midwest, which rose less than economists expected.
[]
* Traders on Tuesday noted that oil markets were already in
a cautious mood ahead of Friday's August U.S. nonfarm payrolls
report.
MARKETS NEWS
* Japan's Nikkei average hit its lowest in 16 months on
Wednesday, hurt by broad-based selling as investors remained
discouraged by the yen's continued strength after dumping
shares the day before. []
* Growing fears of a double-dip U.S. recession weighed on
global stocks on Tuesday, pushing investors into the safe-haven
yen, which neared a 15-year peak versus the dollar. []
* Minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy
meeting, in which policymakers saw increasing risks to economic
growth, also contributed to the cautious mood. []
DATA/EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Wednesday, GMT:
- Eurozone Markit manufacturing PMI for Aug, 0758
- U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI for Aug, 1400
- U.S. EIA oil inventory report, 1430
RELATED NEWS
* President Barack Obama declared an end to the seven-year
U.S. combat mission in Iraq on Tuesday and told war-weary
Americans his central responsibility now was to restore the
sagging U.S. economy. []
(Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa)
