Oil Slips on Persisting European Debt Concerns

NEW YORK, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Crude prices slipped on Tuesday as the outcome of meeting between Germany and French leaders failed to ease concerns about European debt crisis.

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to a tax on financial transaction and closer joint governance of economic policy to defend euro zone from debt crisis in the summit meeting. But they didn't mention any other measures, such as increasing the bailout fund or issuing euro zone bonds, as expected. This outcome failed to comfort the investors and the worries about the European debt problems persisted.

In the economic front, lackluster data pressured the oil demand and pushed down the prices.

In Europe, German economy , the biggest in euro zone, grew by only 0.1 percent during the second quarter, missing forecasts.

In the United States, home starts for July fell 1.5 percent, adding evidence of sluggish housing market. But the industrial production jumped 0.9 percent in July, indicating the mend trend of manufacturing.

And the dollar rose against the euro, adding pressure to crude markets.

Light, sweet crude for Sept. delivery fell 1.23 dollars, or 1. 40 percent to 86.65 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for Sept. delivery expired and settled down 44 cents at 109.47 dollars a barrel, while the more active traded Oct. contract slipped 71 cents, or 0.65 percent to close at 109.13 dollars a barrel.