COLUMBUS, Ohio – Oil prices gave up some of last week's profits Tuesday as a closely watched index showed November home prices dropped by the sharpest annual rate on record, and consumer confidence in January edged to a historic low.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery lost $2.54 a barrel at $43.19 in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 74 cents Monday to settle at $45.73.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index of home prices released Tuesday tumbled by a record 18.2 percent from November 2007, the largest decline since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index dropped 19.1 percent, tied with October for the biggest drop in its 21-year history.
Both indices have recorded year-over-year declines for 23 straight months. Prices are at levels not seen since February 2004.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index edged lower in January to 37.7 from a revised 38.6 in December. That's a historic low for the widely watched barometer, as Americans worry about their jobs and watch the value of their homes and retirement funds shrink.
There was more grim news on the jobs front, as specialty glass and ceramics maker Corning Inc. said it will cut 3,500 jobs. That follows job cut announcements Monday from Caterpillar, Home Depot and Sprint Nextel.
Traders say oil seems to be stuck in a range.
"Right now, the market is in indecisive mode," said Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading Corp. "I think it is searching for the next big move."
Flynn said even with talk of production cuts by the Oil Petroleum Exporting Countries, which produces 40 percent of the world's oil, and plans designed to stimulate the U.S. economy, demand for oil remains weak. Despite some of the coldest temperatures in years across the nation, the markets remains well supplied, he said.
"The industrial demand is just not there," he said.
Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said it looks like traders are taking profits after last week's jump.
"We're in one of those periods where it is difficult to explain every one- or two-dollar movement," he said.
Traders will be watching economic data due out later this week, including reports on durable goods orders for December on Thursday and the first figures on fourth-quarter gross domestic product on Friday. Many analysts believe the GDP, the nation's total output of goods and services, plunged at an annual rate of 6 percent in the quarter, after dropping 0.5 percent in the third quarter.
Federal Reserve policymakers begin a two-day meeting Tuesday to examine what other tools they can use to rouse the sluggish economy. They are all but certain to leave a key interest rate at a record low, near zero.
Prices at the pump were flat overnight, falling 0.2 cents to $1.84 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and the Oil and Price Information Service. Prices are 21.3 cents higher than a month ago, but $1.141 lower than a year ago.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures fell 4.2 cents to $1.11 a gallon, while natural gas lost 0.6 cent at $4.48 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil gave up 5.02 cents at $1.38 a gallon.
In London, the March Brent contract fell $2.56 to $44.40 on the ICE Futures exchange.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090127/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices
Topic: Oil gives up profits on weak housing numbers (Read 401 times)