Oil Futures Drop From Four-Month High

Crude-oil futures retreated from a four-month high as euro-zone finance ministers readied to meet in Brussels Monday to talk about the region’s debt trouble.

In the United States, lawmakers this week vote on budget issues.

In the House, Republicans plan to use a Wednesday vote on raising the debt ceiling in a bid to get Democrats to detail spending plans.

Crude oil for February delivery  lost 9 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $95.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The more-active March contract   declined 15 cents, or nearly 0.2%, to $95.89 a barrel.

Floor trading was closed Monday for Martin Luther King Day in the United States.

In Europe, finance ministers are discussing whether the european Stability Mechanism should take control of bank rescues previously handled by governments. The ministers were reportedly trying to decide what to do with potentially troublesome loans on a bank’s balance sheet.

The Xinhua news agency’s China, Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals newsletter on Monday said the nation’s supply of commercial crude fell to a nine-month low at the end of last month, with gasoline stockpiles climbing to a near two-year high.

Euro-area finance ministers were scheduled to meet in Brussels to discuss the region’s debt crisis, and were also expected to pick the successor to Jean-Claude Juncker.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, was expected to be named new chairman.

Marketwatch