(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was lingering below $85 Friday morning as traders focused their attention to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's speech later today.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for October delivery, edged down $0.45 to $84.85 a barrel. Yesterday, oil ended flat after report from the U.S. Labor Department revealed that 417,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment insurance in the week ended August 20, up 5,000 from the previous week.
This morning the U.S. dollar was paring its previous session's gains versus the euro and the yen, while extending losses against sterling. The buck was ticking higher versus the Swiss franc.
In economic news from the euro zone, the U.K. economy grew 0.2 percent in the second quarter from the prior quarter, according to second estimates published by the Office for National Statistics. The growth rate slowed from 0.5 percent expansion seen in the first quarter.
Traders will look to the Commerce Department's preliminary estimate of second quarter GDP, due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect GDP growth to be downwardly revised to 1.1 percent from the 1.3 percent reported initially.
Later during the session, the Reuters/University of Michigan's final report on the consumer sentiment index for August will be released. The index is expected to be revised up to 56 from the mid-month reading of 54.9.
Traders will also be keen to hear Bernanke speech to the Kansas City Fed conference in Jackson Hole at 10 a.m. ET.
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