Oil prices mixed as investors weigh latest earnings

NEW YORK, July 27 (UPI) -- Lackluster earnings reports out early Wednesday balanced against assessments on the market trajectory to leave crude oil prices in mixed territory.

Hess Corp. and Norwegian energy company Statoil were among those reporting weak results in their latest disclosures. This year saw crude oil prices so far drop below $30 per barrel, bounce back above $50 and hold steady at around $45 per barrel. The supply-side pressures that pulled the price of oil below $100 per barrel in 2014 are evaporating, though concerns about economic growth resurfaced in late June after the British vote to leave the European Union.

Despite a loss, Hess Corp. said it was resilient and ready for an eventual recovery in the market, though spending was revised lower by $300 million. Africa-focused Tullow Oil, meanwhile, emerged with a report showing a rare profit during the downturn.

Crude oil prices took the cue to start the trading day in mixed territory. The price for Brent crude oil moved lower by 0.7 percent to open in New York at $44.87 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark price for crude, was unchanged to start the day at $42.92 per barrel.

Morgan Stanley this week said it expected pressures on prices to linger. The World Bank, however, raised its forecast for crude prices by 4.8 percent to $43 per barrel as some of the oversupply pressures fade.

"We expect slightly higher oil prices for the second half of 2016 as oil market oversupply diminishes," John Baffes, a senior economist at the World Bank said in a statement. "However, inventories remain very large and will take some time to be drawn down."

Prices may be influenced later in the day after the U.S. Energy Information Administration releases weekly data on storage, production and imports. A preview of the data from S&P Global Platts this week said energy storage levels were drawing down, but not enough to cut heavily into the surplus, especially for consumer fuels.