* Weak U.S. factory data pushes oil down
* Chinese economic growth slows in Q2
* Coming up: US consumer prices, consumer mood data Friday
(Recasts, updates prices, changes dateline formerly LONDON)
By Brian Ellsworth
NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) - Oil fell below $76 a barrel
on Thursday after disappointing U.S. economic data curbed
expectations for future demand growth
A U.S. Federal Reserve report showed slowing growth in
factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region, pushing down both
oil prices and equities markets. []
By 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT), U.S. crude for August <CLc1>
was trading down $1.23 at $75.81 a barrel, after earlier
jumping to $77.66. ICE Brent <LCOc1> was down $1.03 at $75.74 a
barrel.
"The market was looking for confirmation that growth was
proceeding at a good pace, so when the numbers weren't a lot
better than expected some of the optimism that has pushed
prices up caused some profit-taking," said Gene McGillian,
analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
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TECH-Oil seen flat, then falling to $74 []
Reuters Insider show on crude storage at Cushing
[]
Graphic on crude's correlation with equities
http://link.reuters.com/sur57m
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Prices rose earlier after news that U.S. industrial output
had beaten consensus forecasts by eking out a 0.1 percent
month-on-month rise. []
Lower economic growth is generally seen as reducing future
demand for crude oil.
Equities markets, which have for weeks traded in close
correlation with crude oil, also fell on the economic data. The
S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average were both down
almost 1 percent. []
Adding to bearish news for futures prices, energy industry
data provider Genscape said crude inventories at the key U.S.
Cushing, Oklahoma oil hub rose in the week to July 13 to 39.93
million barrels.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in its
own weekly stocks report on Wednesday, said Cushing stocks rose
to 36.12 million barrels in the week to July 9.
The EIA's data showed a near 5 million-barrel drop in crude
oil. It also showed larger-than-expected product builds as
refiners boosted rates above 90 percent. []
China said its economic growth cooled slightly to 10.3
percent in the second quarter in a slowdown that is likely to
extend over the rest of the year. []
Signs of slower Chinese growth tend to dampen oil markets
because analysts say crude prices recovered from post-financial
crisis lows of late 2008 in large part because of Chinese
demand for fuel.
Earlier this week, oil prices looked set to breach a
critical technical resistance level -- the 200-day moving
average near $78.50 a barrel -- in a move that some thought
would take oil into a new trading range straddling $80 a
barrel.
But signs of weaker growth have since doused sentiment and
technical analysts now see oil trading in a tight band between
$76 to $78 a barrel before pulling back to the low $70s.
(Additional reporting by David Turner and Emma Farge in
London, Robert Gibbons in New York and Alejandro Barbajosa in
Singapore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
