Crude Oil Lower on Strengthening Dollar

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- As the dollar strengthened, crude oil futures were lower on Tuesday morning.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, benchmark crude for December delivery was down by 98 cents recently at $77.15 a barrel. On Monday, the front-month contract went higher by $1.13 to settle at $78.13.

The Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of currencies, was moving higher in the morning as well, gaining 0.7%. The euro was down 0.6% against the dollar.

With crude and fuel stockpiles still higher than average, investors will be eyeing weekly inventory data on Tuesday and Wednesday. The American Petroleum Institute is set to release its figures on Tuesday afternoon and the government's Energy Information Administration will issue figures on Wednesday morning.

A deluge of earnings reports around the energy have also garnered headlines since Monday. After the market close, both Chesapeake Energy(CHK) and Anadarko Petroleum(APC) reported slumping earnings in the third-quarter, though each beat street views. Chesapeake shares were losing 12 cents, or 0.5%, at $24.02, while Anadarko was gaining 52 cents at $62.36.

Forest Oil(FST), which missed forecasts in reporting a 60% earnings drop, was also down 1.8% in the morning.

Among the oil majors, Exxon Mobil(XOM) was down 0.9%, while Chevron(CVX) was slipping 0.3%.

-- Written by Sung Moss in New York

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