SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil was steady above $67 a barrel on Tuesday, after falling the previous day to its lowest level in two weeks, amid persistent worries over the pace of the global economic rebound and revival in energy demand.
The market got some support from a bounce in equities but could see more downside after the release of weekly inventory data later from the American Petroleum Institute (API), and on Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Key July housing data and producer prices due later will also shed light on the health of the U.S. economy.
Further price support could come from the rapid growth of Hurricane Bill, the first of this year's season, which might disrupt Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production.
By 2:45 a.m. EDT, U.S. crude for September delivery was up 44 cents at $67.19 a barrel. It had settled 76 cents lower at $66.75 on Monday, off a two-week low of $65.23 earlier. London Brent crude for October was up 12 cents at $70.66.
"The tone is nervous, absolutely. The market is realizing that a lot of the recent gains have been based on very loose fundamentals, being driven out of equity markets, and that is vulnerable to a correction," said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist at ANZ in Melbourne.
Oil suffered its sharpest decline in two weeks last Friday after the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers showed consumer confidence in early August dropped to the lowest level since March, casting doubts over the pace of recovery in the world's top energy consumer.
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