Crude-oil futures were under pressure in Asian trade Monday from a stronger U.S. dollar and weak Chinese manufacturing data. Saudi Arabia’s upcoming December price announcements will likely set the tone for markets this week. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $80.23 a barrel at 0439 GMT, down $0.31 in the Globex electronic session. December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.17 to $85.69 a barrel. Over the weekend, China’s official manufacturing PMI dropped to a five-month low of 50.8 in October from 51.1 in September. Earlier today, HSBC’s private gauge of manufacturing activity in China rose to 50.4 in October from 50.2 in September. The numbers are consistent with cooling domestic demand and a further slowdown in growth in the fourth quarter as China’s economy is still facing downward pressure, Julian Evans-Pritchard, economist at […]