West Texas
Intermediate crude dropped to the lowest level in more than a week amid
speculation that the Federal Reserve will reduce economic stimulus.
Futures
fell as much as 0.8 percent. The Federal Open Market Committee will publish
minutes of a July meeting today, with 65 percent of economists surveyed by
Bloomberg forecasting the Fed will taper bond purchases next month. A
WTI crude
for October delivery slid 26 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $104.85 a barrel at
10:48 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $104.75
before the release of the report at 10:30 a.m. in
Brent for
October settlement dropped 5 cents to $110.10 a barrel on the London-based ICE
Futures Europe exchange. Trading of futures was 9.2 percent below the 100-day
average. The European benchmark crude traded at a $5.25 premium to WTI. The
spread was $5.04 at yesterday’s settlement, the widest since June 28.