Just one day after West Texas..........>

US OIL CLOSE: Just one day after West Texas Intermediate saw the first closing

settlement above the psychological $50 mark since May 24, crude prices came

tumbling lower again, mostly due to a lack of topside follow through.

- NYMEX September light sweet crude oil futures settled down $1.01 at $49.16 per

barrel, after trading in a range of $48.37 to $50.43. The earlier high was the

highest since late May.

- Most recently WTI topped out at $52.00 May 25, before the announcement of a

nine-month extension of OPEC/non-OPEC production cuts. The extension was largely

priced in and oil fell to $42.05 on June 21.

- Tuesday's close back below the 200-day moving average, at $49.40, targets the

55-day moving average at $46.78. Ahead of that are the July 27 and July 26 lows

of $48.25 and $47.86 respectively, which may act as support.

- The market awaited the latest API inventory information, due out later

Tuesday, as well as the more definitive EIA inventory data, due out Wednesday

morning.