Oil Adds To Losses Ahead Of Busy Week

Crude-oil futures fell in electronic trade Monday, extending their retreat sparked by Friday’s disappointing U.S. economic-growth data.

Benchmark U.S. crude-oil for June delivery  fell 41 cents, or 0.4%, to $92.59 a barrel, after having lost 64 cents during Friday’s New York Mercantile Exchange floor session.

Data showing U.S. first-quarter gross domestic product rising at a 2.5% annual rate helped spark Friday’s losses, as the result missed expectations for a 3.2% gain.

The disappointing data continued its drag on crude oil Monday, but analysts at Citi Futures said the U.S. growth rate wasn’t necessarily such an accurate gauge of the nation’s oil demand.

“In fact, in the seven consecutive quarters through the end of 2012, GDP was growing and petroleum demand was shrinking — the U.S. economy was becoming more energy efficient,” they wrote Friday.

Monday’s weakness for oil futures came despite losses for the U.S. dollar — with the ICE dollar index  slipping to 82.304 from 82.484 late Friday — which would usually be supportive for prices of oil and other dollar-denominated commodities, as it makes them cheaper to holders of other currencies.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its Asia economic-growth forecast to 5.7% for 2013, down from its previous projection for 5.9% growth.

Nymex crude’s London-traded rival, Brent North Sea crude, saw its June contract  also lose ground, falling 51 cents, or 0.5%, to $102.65 a barrel.

June natural gas  accelerated its rebound to add 5 cents, or 1.1%, to $4.27 per million British thermal units after a 2-cent advance on Friday. The recent gains allowed the nat-gas front-month future to recoup a portion of its 5.3% loss during the course of last week.

For the week ahead, a slate of data and possible policy moves looked likely to move crude and other energy futures. They included U.S. consumer spending (Monday), policy decisions from the U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank (Wednesday and Thursday, respectively), and the monthly U.S. jobs report (Friday), as well as two sets of Chinese manufacturing data slated for mid-week.

Marketwatch