Oil dropped as euro-area finance ministers meet to negotiate a bailout payment for Greece and as American leaders prepared to wrestle with a budget agreement.
Futures fell as much as 1.1 percent as officials gathered in Brussels to discuss Greek aid less than a week after a meeting failed to yield an agreement.
Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. need to find a budget compromise to avoid triggering $607 billion in tax gains and spending cuts in January that the Congressional Budget Office said could lead to a recession.
“The outcome of the European finance ministers’ meeting is the main focus of the markets today,” said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
“Given the direction the market is moving, it appears most people aren’t expecting a positive outcome.”
Crude oil for January delivery declined 78 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $87.50 a barrel at 9:37 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Prices are down 11 percent this year. Brent oil for January settlement fell 55 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $110.83 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Finance ministers are dealing with the consequences of a Nov. 12 decision to give Greece two extra years, until 2016, to cut its budget deficit.
At an overnight session lasting more than 11 hours a week later, the ministers failed to fill the resulting financing gap or show that Greek debt would drop to a target of 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, a condition set by the International Monetary Fund.
The European sovereign debt crisis began in Greece three years ago and has reduced economic growth and fuel demand as it spread to Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Cyprus.
Middle East
Oil rose 1.9 percent in New York last week because of concern that fighting between Israel and Hamas and unrest in Egypt would spread and disrupt Middle Eastern crude supplies.
Israel and Hamas agreed on a cease-fire that took effect Nov. 21, ending eight days of air and missile strikes that left more than 160 Palestinians and six Israelis dead.
Egypt’s president, Mohamed Mursi, will meet the nation’s judicial council today, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported, citing Yasser Ali, a presidential spokesman.
Protests have taken place since Mursi issued a Nov. 22 decree that prevents his actions from being challenged by the courts.
Thousands of people poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the focal point for an uprising last year, to protest Mursi’s order after the Egyptian judiciary announced Nov. 24 that courts will suspend work until the decision is rescinded.
bloomberg.com
Futures fell as much as 1.1 percent as officials gathered in Brussels to discuss Greek aid less than a week after a meeting failed to yield an agreement.
Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. need to find a budget compromise to avoid triggering $607 billion in tax gains and spending cuts in January that the Congressional Budget Office said could lead to a recession.
“The outcome of the European finance ministers’ meeting is the main focus of the markets today,” said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
“Given the direction the market is moving, it appears most people aren’t expecting a positive outcome.”
Crude oil for January delivery declined 78 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $87.50 a barrel at 9:37 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Prices are down 11 percent this year. Brent oil for January settlement fell 55 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $110.83 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Finance ministers are dealing with the consequences of a Nov. 12 decision to give Greece two extra years, until 2016, to cut its budget deficit.
At an overnight session lasting more than 11 hours a week later, the ministers failed to fill the resulting financing gap or show that Greek debt would drop to a target of 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, a condition set by the International Monetary Fund.
The European sovereign debt crisis began in Greece three years ago and has reduced economic growth and fuel demand as it spread to Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Cyprus.
Middle East
Oil rose 1.9 percent in New York last week because of concern that fighting between Israel and Hamas and unrest in Egypt would spread and disrupt Middle Eastern crude supplies.
Israel and Hamas agreed on a cease-fire that took effect Nov. 21, ending eight days of air and missile strikes that left more than 160 Palestinians and six Israelis dead.
Egypt’s president, Mohamed Mursi, will meet the nation’s judicial council today, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported, citing Yasser Ali, a presidential spokesman.
Protests have taken place since Mursi issued a Nov. 22 decree that prevents his actions from being challenged by the courts.
Thousands of people poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the focal point for an uprising last year, to protest Mursi’s order after the Egyptian judiciary announced Nov. 24 that courts will suspend work until the decision is rescinded.
bloomberg.com
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