Oil prices fell below $69 a barrel Wednesday, but were up from earlier lows, as investors continued to focus on the value of the U.S. dollar, which typically trades inversely to commodities, and awaited a policy statement from the Federal Reserve, The Associated Press reported. By midday in Europe, benchmark crude for August delivery was down 53 cents to $68.71 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, it fell to $68.06 before recovering. On Tuesday, it rose $1.74 to settle at $69.24. The euro was slightly lower at $1.4071 from $1.4083 late Tuesday in New York, while the British pound rose to $1.6569 from $1.6454 in the previous session. On Tuesday, the dollar slumped 2.37 cents against the euro. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration is due to release its weekly petroleum inventory data. In other Nymex trading, gasoline for July delivery fell 4.04 cents to $1.8528 a gallon and heating oil dropped 1.64 cents to $1.7526. Natural gas for July delivery rose 2.7 cents to $3.906 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent prices fell 47 cents to $68.33 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
