Markets await hints on the outlook for interest rates when Federal Reserve officials and policy makers from the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan head to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for an annual meeting later this week.
Earlier on Wednesday, Japan posted shrinking factory activity for a third straight month in August, and the euro zone, France, Germany, Britain and the United States are set to release their own purchasing managers' index (PMI) data later in the day.
Crucial to shoring up oil demand over the rest of the year is China, the world's second-largest economy.
Crude stocks in the United States continued to fall, dropping by about 2.4 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 18, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.
That was a slightly smaller draw than a drop of 2.9 million barrels analysts expected in a Reuters poll.
Persons:
Jackson, Brent, Hiroyuki Kikukawa, John Evans, Paul Carsten, Yuka Obayashi, Andrew Hayley, Clarence Fernandez, Mark Potter
Organizations:
Danang Petroleum Machinery Technology JSC, U.S, West Texas, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, U.S . Federal, NS, Nissan Securities, PVM, Organization of, Petroleum, American Petroleum Institute, Energy Information Administration, Thomson
Locations:
Danang, United States, Jackson Hole , Wyoming, Japan, France, Germany, Britain, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, U.S, London, Tokyo, Beijing