Oil slips on jitters over U.S.-China trade talks progress

TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday on
renewed caution over the prospects of a trade deal between the
United States and China, with investors shrugging off comments
over the weekend by U.S. President Donald Trump that talks were
going well.
Brent crude was down 39 cents, or 0.6%, at $62.12 by 0117
GMT. The contract rose 1.3% last week.
U.S. crude was 35 cents, or 0.6%, lower at $56.89 a barrel,
having risen 1.9% last week.
Trump said on Saturday that trade talks with China were
moving along "very nicely," but the United States would only
make a deal with Beijing if it was the right one for America.
The 16-month trade war between the world's two biggest
economies has slowed economic growth around the world and
prompted analysts to lower forecasts for oil demand, raising
concerns that a supply glut could develop in 2020.
Trump also said there had been incorrect reporting about
U.S. willingness to lift tariffs as part of a "phase one"
agreement, news of which had boosted markets.
Any agreement on rolling back tariffs "would boost risk
sentiment but not necessarily provide (an) immediate economic
fillip," said Stephen Innes chief Asia market strategist at
AxiTrader.
Underlining the impact of the trade war, data over the
weekend showed that China's producer prices fell the most in
more than three years in October, as the manufacturing sector
weakened, hit by the dispute and declining demand. In the United States, energy companies last week reduced the
number of oil rigs operating for a third week in a row. Drillers
cut seven rigs RIG-OL-USA-BHI in the week to Nov. 8, bringing
the total count down to 684, the lowest since April 2017, Baker
Hughes said. Money managers boosted their net long U.S. crude futures and
options positions in the week to Nov. 5 by 22,512 contracts to
138,389, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
said.