Oil prices fell on release of disappointing retail sales figures in Europe that dampened investor appetite amid reports of higher than normal crude stocks. Benchmark crude for January delivery dipped to US$87.7 a barrel on the Nymex. Brent crude inched up to US$108.8 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, announced that retail sales across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro fell 1.2% in October, from 0.6% decline in September. The figures provide further evidence that households remain gloomy over the economy and are reluctant to spend. US oil inventories are well above average for this time of year, according to the Energy Information Agency, even though supplies fell 2.4 mln barrels last week. The American Petroleum Institute said oil supplies dropped 2.2 mln barrels for the week ending Nov. 30.
07-Dec-12 
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