Crude-oil futures succumbed to renewed selling pressure on Tuesday, 15 July 2014 pushing the U.S. benchmark back below $100 a barrel for the first time since May.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August were down 95 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $99.96 a barrel after trading as low as $99.01.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's testimony to the U.S. Senate coincided with commodities' late-morning sell off. However, her remarks appeared not to have prompted the price pressure in gold. Yellen, who was testifying in front of the Senate Banking Committee, said hiking interest rates is not a panacea for easing financial stability risks.
The lack of fresh concerns about the geopolitical front have led to better risk appetite in the market place early this week. However, four situations remain simmering on low heat on the back burner of the market place: the European Union sovereign debt crisis, the Iraqi civil war, the latest flare-up between Israel and Hamas, and the Russia-Ukraine tensions.
In overnight news there was yet another downbeat economic report coming out of the European Union. The German ZEW economic expectations index came in at 27.1 in July versus 29.8 in June. The forecast was for a reading of 28.0. On Monday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged the European Central Bank to implement quantitative easing of its monetary policy, to help spur economic growth and to ward of deflationary price pressures.
Among other energy products, Nymex reformulated gasoline for August fell 2.65 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.8986 a gallon while August heating oil traded at $2.85, down nearly 1.74 cents.
