Crude Extends Losses On Profit Taking

 The price of crude oil was ticking lower for a second session Tuesday morning amid profit taking, after last week's rally on concerns over supply from Iran.

Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for April delivery, were down $0.41 to $108.15 a barrel. Yesterday, oil closed lower, mostly on a strong dollar and profit taking, despite lingering supply concerns from the Middle East over Iran's stand-off with the west on its nuclear program.

This morning, the U.S. dollar was lingering near its 2-month low versus the euro and ticking lower against sterling. The buck was trading around its 3-month low against the Swiss franc, while easing from its 7-month high versus the yen.

In economic news, German consumer confidence is set to record a modest improvement in March as income expectations continued to grow, a survey by market research group GfK revealed. Following a value of 5.9 points in February 2012, the overall indicator is forecasting a value of 6.0 points for March, GfK said. This was in line with economists expectations.

Meanwhile, euro zone economic confidence rose more than expected to 94.4 in February from 93.4 in January, survey results from the European Commission showed. Economists were expecting the index to climb to 94.

Traders will look to the Commerce Department's report on durable goods orders, which gives the value of orders placed for goods designed to last for more than 3 years, due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect a 0.7 percent drop in durable goods orders for January following a 3 percent increase in December.

At 9 a.m. ET, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index is due to be released. Economists expect a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent month-over-month drop in the 20-city composite house price index for December.

Later during the session, the Conference Board is scheduled to release its consumer confidence report for February. The report, which is based on a survey of 5,000 U.S. households, is expected to show that the consumer confidence index rose to 64 in February from 61.1 in January.

Today after the market hours, the API will release its U.S. crude oil inventories data for the weekended February 24. Analysts expect crude oil inventories to gain 1.1 million barrels and gasoline stocks to add 250,000 barrels last week.