Commodity Daily News

Crude Oil Slips Following US Report

A US report showing that fuel consumption fell to its lowest level in close to a year caused crude oil prices to slip yesterday. The commodity fell as low as 82.20 before staging a slight recovery in overnight trading. The poor economic climate in the US is largely to blame for the low consumption rates. Yesterday's worse than expected unemployment data highlighted how far the world's largest energy consumer needs to go before fully recovering from the economic crisis.

Today, traders are advised to follow the trend the US dollar takes in order to gauge the direction oil prices will go. Should the dollar fall in trading today, investors will likely turn to commodities like oil as an alternative investment. At the same time, if the dollar continues the upward correction started yesterday, oil is likely to drop further to close out the week.