Oil Prices Pare Much Of Their Earlier Losses By The Settlement

Oil prices fell Tuesday, but settled off the session's worst levels. July WTI crude lost 14 cents, or 0.3%, to settle $49.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had traded as low as $49.03 as some traders continued to show disappointment that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries didn't agree to more aggressive production cuts. However, expectations that data due out this week will reveal an eighth-straight weekly decline in U.S. crude inventories helped provide some support for prices shortly before the Nymex settlement, said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group.