UPDATE 8-Oil falls on profit-taking, market awaits U.S. data

                                
 * Drop follows gains of almost 13 pct in three sessions
                                
 * Analysts expect build in API crude stocks; data 2030 GMT
                                
 * Colorado State lowers 2009 hurricane season forecast
 (Recasts, updates prices, market activity, adds byline)
                                
 By Matthew Robinson
                                
 NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday on
expectations data will show a rise in U.S. crude inventories
and proft-taking following three days of gains.
                                
 U.S. crude <CLc1> settled down 16 cents at $71.42 a barrel,
after rising nearly 13 percent in the previous three sessions.
In London, Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 73 cents to settle at
$74.28 a barrel.
                                
 Pressure came on forecasts that weekly U.S. data would show
an increase in crude stockpiles. A Reuters poll of analysts
estimated U.S. crude inventories rose 800,000 barrels in the
week to July 31, while distillate stocks were seen rising by
1.2 million barrels. [EIA/S]
                                
 The American Petroleum Institute was to release its weekly
inventory report late on Tuesday, with the U.S. Energy
Information Administration report due out on Wednesday.
                                
 "The gains of the past few days deteriorated as
expectations for a further build to stockpiles grew and
prompted some profit-taking," Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president
at MF Global in New York, wrote in a research note.
                                
 Concerns about a rebound in the economy also weighed on oil
prices, traders said.
                                
 Commerce Department data showed U.S. consumers spent more
in June and there was positive news for the housing market, but
a big drop in incomes pointed to a slow recovery from the worst
recession in decades. [ID:nN04453698]
                                
 Optimism that a potential turnaround in the global economy
could lift sagging oil demand has helped send crude up from
lows below $33 a barrel in December, with energy traders
keeping an eye on equities markets for signs of an economic
rebound.
                                
 U.S. stocks edged lower as investors booked profits after
the recent rally, offsetting economic data showing contracts
for home sales rose more than expected in June. [.N]
                                
 Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose at a
faster-than-expected pace in June, advancing for the fifth
month in a row, according to the National Association of
Realtors, a real estate trade group. [ID:nN0498623]
                                
 Energy traders also were watching an area of thunderstorms
in the Atlantic Ocean several hundred miles southwest of the
Cape Verde Islands associated with a tropical wave. The U.S.
National Hurricane Center said it had less than a 30 percent
chance of becoming a tropical storm. [ID:nN0475086]
                                
 Traders closely monitor storm activity for signs of
potential disruptions to supplies of crude and natural gas from
offshore installations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
                                
 Colorado State University on Tuesday lowered its forecast
for tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic for 2009.
[ID:nN04432977]
                                
 For a factbox on all updated forecasts for the 2009
hurricane season, click: [ID:nN04112546]
 (Reporting by Matthew Robinson, Robert Gibbons and Gene Ramos
in New York; Christopher Johnson in London; Editing by David
Gregorio)