A long run in the positive direction for oil prices was interrupted early Tuesday after U.S. data show little to no movement in the world's biggest economy.
Year-on-year, the U.S. Labor Department reported a 0.8 percent increase in the consumer price index. In July, the consumer price index was unchanged on a seasonal basis. Energy costs declined in July and food was unchanged.
"The index for all items less food and energy rose, but posted its smallest increase since March," the Labor Department noted in its report. "As a result, the all items index was unchanged after rising in each of the four previous months."
For consumers, their hourly wages reversed course to show momentum in July, but wage gains paled in comparison to the increase in rents and medical-care costs.
After rising nearly 10 percent in a week on the back of strong U.S. data from the labor sector and renewed rumors about supply-side action from major producers, crude oil prices moved in volatile territory in the early rounds of Tuesday trading.
Oil was up strongly hours before the start of trading in New York, moved sharply lower after the release of consumer price data, but bounced back slightly by the start of trading. The price for Brent crude oil was up 0.3 percent to start the day at $48.48 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark price for oil, was up 0.5 percent to open at $45.95 per barrel.
Major media outlets continued to reference possible efforts to stimulate oil prices on the sidelines of a meeting next month in Algeria. From Nigeria, where oil production is curbed by militant activity, Oil Minister Emmanuel Kachikwu was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying the odds of members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cutting output were "sparse." A spokesperson from Iran, which in part helped scupper a similar proposal early this year, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying no decision was made on attending the meeting in Algeria.
A separate report from the Journal references "hopes" for a production freeze.
Crude oil prices may be influenced later by inventory and production data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A survey emailed from S&P Global Platts said data may show a decline in crude oil stockpiles, a loose metric for demand, but short of the four-year average.
"The drop in seasonal crude oil demand usually ushers in a period of builds in crude inventories during the autumn," S&P Global Platts Oil Futures Editor Geoffrey Craig said in the research note. "But the shift from draws to builds has already appeared ahead of schedule this summer."
