Oil futures trended lower in Asian trading hours Tuesday but geopolitical issues and an uptick in economic data kept a floor on the two oil price benchmarks. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at $97.37 a barrel at 0504 GMT, down $0.11 in the Globex electronic session. February Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.08 to $109.33 a barrel. Better-than-expected U.S. industrial data had reinforced some market expectations that the Federal Reserve may opt for an early withdrawal of monetary stimulus. The meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee later this week remains the dominant theme for financial markets. “Trimming of the monthly $85 billion asset purchases is likely to dampen demand of commodities and hurt dollar-denominated crude as the greenback strengthens,” Phillip Futures said in a note. Later Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute–a trade body–will publish its […]