VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Crude oil futures rose on Tuesday on signs of falling U.S. oil production, weakness in the dollar and tensions in the Middle East, particularly Yemen.

Crude oil rose on Tuesday after a forecast that U.S. shale oil output would record its first monthly decline in more than four years and on tension in Yemen, where top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is embroiled in a civil war.

A shock fall in Chinese exports hammered the Australian dollar on Monday, though expectations of fresh economic stimulus from Beijing helped Asian stocks higher

European stock markets made solid starts to the second quarter on Wednesday as data pointing to a gradual recovery in the euro zone economy gave investors fresh impetus after their blowout first few months of the year.

The euro rose and European shares edged up on Tuesday, responding to signs the euro zone economy is gaining momentum, while a slowdown in factory activity in China kept oil and commodities-linked assets under pressure.

U.S. producer prices recorded their biggest drop in more than five years in January as the cost of energy and a range of other goods tumbled, hinting at a disinflationary trend that could argue against the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.

U.S. wholesale inventories barely rose in December, the latest suggestion that economic growth in the fourth quarter was even slower than initially thought.

Crude oil prices fell for the first time in four sessions on Tuesday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that ample supplies will raise global inventories before investment cuts begin to significantly dent production.

The recent rout in oil prices could delay the onset of "peak oil demand," or zero global demand growth, by around five years to beyond 2030, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA) said.

A small but heavily subscribed pipeline that transports 42,000 barrels a day of crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken region is expected to remain closed on Tuesday after a weekend breach that spilled 1,200 barrels of crude into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana.

U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Tuesday following the largest losses on Wall Street since early October and ahead of a large data batch that will show the momentum of the U.S. economy at the end of last year.

Oil prices sank to fresh 5-1/2-year lows on Tuesday, extending losses after a 5 percent plunge in the previous session as worries over a global supply glut intensified.

For the past 18 months, Americans from Albany to Oregon have voiced growing alarm over the rising number of oil-laden freight trains coursing through their cities, a trend they fear is endangering public safety.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday urged countries at U.N. climate talks in Lima to move away from using fossil fuels while demonstrators gathered outside the meeting urged him to reject the Keystone oil pipeline.

A surge of oil and gas production will drive the U.S. economy 1 percent higher in 2040 than it would have otherwise grown, and energy exports will only stoke the expansion, an independent study on energy policy concluded on Tuesday.