Flat Finish for Oil on Mixed Data
Author: Dan Strumpf</br></br>NEW YORK--Oil prices finished flat after data offered a mixed picture of the U.S. economic recovery.</br></br>Light, sweet crude for December delivery settled down 2 cents at $84.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.</br></br>The U.S. Commerce Department said retail sales rose 1.2% in October, a sign that consumers feel more bullish about their financial situation going into the holiday-shopping season. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected sales to rise 0.8%.</br></br>October's increase was the biggest gain in retail sales since March and the fourth improvement in a row. September sales rose 0.7%, revised upward from a previously estimated increase of 0.6%.