Oil Ends With a Minor Loss, Set For a Third Weekly Decline

Oil prices edged lower Thursday, holding ground at their lowest finish in about a month and poised to notch a third-straight weekly decline. Traders weighed data from the Energy Information Administration released Wednesday, which showed weekly gains in U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate stockpiles, along with weak demand for oil products. But the EIA also reported a fall in crude production. July WTI crude shed 8 cents, or 0.2%, to settle $45.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Week to date, prices have lost more than 4%.