* Weak U.S. factory data pushes down oil, equities
* Chinese economic growth slows in Q2
* Coming up: US consumer prices, consumer mood data Friday
(Updates with settlement prices, adds quote)
By Brian Ellsworth
NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) - Oil fell below $77 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. []
U.S. crude for August <CLc1> settled down 42 cents at $76.62 a
barrel, after earlier jumping to $77.66. ICE Brent <LCOc1> was down
$0.67 at $76.10 a barrel.
U.S. crude fell as low as $75.33 after the release of the Fed
data but pared losses in the late afternoon along with equities
markets.
"Today's economic data is disappointing and indicates that the
recovery is stalling," said Andy Lebow a broker with MF GLOBAL in
New York. "Crude futures are moving in fairly wide range and are
rangebound at this point, but as in recent sessions, moving in
lockstep with the stock market."
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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 around 0.4
percent in late afternoon trading. []
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 build 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.
Friday's session may provide traders with new direction with the
Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey
expected to show a dip in July. []
Also, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Thursday a
large tropical wave located about 400 miles (645 km) west of the
Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean had a 10 percent chance of
becoming the season's next tropical cyclone during the next 48
hours. []
(Additional reporting by David Turner and Emma Farge in London,
Robert Gibbons in New York and Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
