Crude Oil Ends Lower Ahead Of OPEC Meet

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil snapped a two-day gain to end lower on Monday, as negotiations between Iran and the West to curtail Tehran's nuclear program were extended by seven months, with investors awaiting the outcome from the OPEC meeting scheduled for November 27.

China's move to cut interest rates to boost its economy and comments by ECB President Mario Draghi on additional stimulus, also aided commodity prices.

After Friday's rise on the back of an unexpected interest rate cut by China's central bank, the focus is now on the OPEC meet in Vienna. Speculation is rife that OPEC members may agree on a production cut to check falling prices.

Meanwhile, reports suggest Iran is likely ask OPEC to cut its output target by 1 million barres a day. However, some members, including Saudi Arabia have already indicated preference to settle for lower prices than agreeing for a reduction in output.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for January delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $0.73 or near 1.0 percent to close at $75.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday.

Crude prices for January delivery scaled a high of $77.02 a barrel intraday and a low of $75.77.

On Friday, crude oil futures ended higher at $76.51 a barrel, up $0.66 or 0.9 percent, after an unexpected interest rate cut by China's central bank and on comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi that further stimulus will be announced by the ECB if required to contain eurozone deflation.

An unexpected interest rate cut announcement from China's central bank and comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on additional stimulus lifted crude oil prices on Friday.

In a surprise move, the People's Bank of China cut its key lending rate to 5.6 percent, to spur economic growth. The bank bank reduced the deposit rate to 2.75 percent.

Speaking at the Frankfurt European Banking Congress on Friday, Draghi said the central bank will expand its asset purchase program if inflation fails to show signs of returning to the targeted level.

In economic news, results from the Chicago Federal Reserve survey showed the National Activity Index to have declined to 0.14 in October from 0.29 in the preceding month.

German business confidence improved unexpectedly in November reversing last month's decline, as the economy returned to growth avoiding a recession. The business confidence index in November rose for the first time in seven months to 104.7 from 103.2 in October -- the lowest since December 2012, a survey conducted by the Ifo institute showed Monday. Economists had forecast the index to fall further to 103.

Meanwhile, a Global Business Outlook survey from Markit Economics on Monday showed optimism among companies declined sharply to its lowest level since the survey was first initiated five years ago.

Among other data due this week are the results of consumer confidence surveys by the Conference Board and the University of Michigan and Reuters, the Commerce Department's data on personal income and spending, new home sales and durable goods orders.

Also due this week are the results of house prices surveys for September from S&P/Case-Shiller and the Federal House Finance Agency, pending home sales data from the National Association of Realtors, preliminary reading of third quarter GDP and the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report.