Oil prices are lower as investors await fresh data on stockpiles and anticipate earnings from Wal-mart and Priceline.com. Crude-oil is at its lowest levels of the week at 50 dollars a barrel. This after API data showed US inventories jumped a larger than expected 14.3 million-barrels from the same period a week ago. Analysts were looking for a jump of just over 3 million barrels for the week. We get another inventory report today. It comes from the Energy Information Administration, and is due out at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. In earnings news, Wal-Mart reports fourth-quarter earnings today and they are expected to drop from the same period a year ago. Its reflective of how the holiday season treated the retail giant. Even though lower gas prices put more money in people’s pockets, they didn’t necessarily go out and spend it at places such as Wal mart. Investors are keen to find out if the e commerce business is helping to offset any slowdown at brick and mortar stores. Priceline is also expected to reveal slower earnings growth when it posts its Q4 earnings. Competition among online travel booking portals is increasing. Priceline has acquired Booking.com, Kayak and OpenTable in recent years. In August, Priceline said it would invest $500 million in Ctrip , the biggest Chinese online travel agency.
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