Oil traded below $50 a barrel in London for a third day as investors awaited a European Central Bank decision on starting a quantitative-easing program. Brent futures fell as much as 1.1 percent. The dollar approached an 11-year high against the euro, undermining the appeal of dollar-priced commodities for protecting against inflation, amid speculation the ECB will today introduce large-scale bond purchases. Oil also declined on estimates that U.S. crude inventories expanded for a second week. “The ECB will rule market sentiment today,” Olivier Jakob , managing director at consultants Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland , said by e-mail. “Some QE is already priced in, hence directionally crude can go both ways” once the ECB’s intentions are clear, he said. Brent for March settlement was 10 cents lower at $48.93 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange as of 9:45 a.m. London time, having earlier fallen as low […]