NYMEX-Crude shifts lower on dollar, product builds

* EIA: crude supplies down sharply, product stocks jump

* Dollar gains on U.S. home sales, durable goods data

NEW YORK, June 24 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures
dropped back below $69 a barrel Wednesday afternoon on the
strong dollar and as traders factored in large increases in
gasoline and distillate stocks last week.

Earlier, prices recovered from overnight lows after
government data showed a bigger-than-expected drawdown in crude
supplies. But gains at that point were limited by the big
product inventory builds.

"Crude futures are back down on the weight of a stronger
dollar (and) the EIA inventory report also showed large
increases in gasoline and distillate stocks and that's dragging
down crude," said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures in
Huntington Beach, California.

The U.S. dollar extended gains against the euro, lifted by
the encouraging U.S. home sales and the May durable goods data.
[USD/]

The latest economic data lifted Wall Street. [.N]

Traders were awaiting the conclusion on Wednesday afternoon
of a two-day Federal Reserve policy-making meeting. The Fed was
expected to issue a statement at 2:15 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT).
[ID:nN23511065]

The Fed was widely expected by economists to leave the
benchmark federal funds rate at almost zero.

PRICES

* On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:50 p.m EDT
(1650 GMT), August crude CLQ9 was down 57 cents, or 0.82
percent, at $68.67 a barrel, trading from $68.06 to $69.86.

* In London, August Brent crude LCOQ9 was down 50 cents,
or 0.73 percent, at $68.30 a barrel, trading from $67.58 to
$69.31.

* NYMEX July RBOB RBN9 was down 4.53 cents, or 2.39
percent, at $1.8479 a gallon, trading from $1.8395 to $1.8738.

* NYMEX July heating oil HON9 was down 1.82 cents, or
1.03 percent, at $1.7508 a gallon, trading from $1.7360 to
$1.7780.

* The August/August RBOB crack spread <0#RB-CL=R> was at
$9.17, after ending at $10.17 on Tuesday. The August/August
heating oil crack spread <0#CL-HO=R> was at $6.67, after ending
at $6.94 on Tuesday.

* The spread between the current front month and the
five-year forward crude contract CLc61 was at $15.43, based
on the August 2014 contract Tuesday settlement at $84.10.

TECHNICALS

NYMEX crude 10-day/20-day moving average: $70.19/$69.16

Technical support/resistance:

NYMEX crude: $65.90/$69.40

NYMEX heating oil: $1.6856/$1.7694

NYMEX RBOB: $1.82/$1.87

For a report on technicals click [ID:nLO104901]

MARKET NEWS

* The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude
stocks dropped 3.8 million barrels last week, to 353.9 million
barrels, against a forecast for a 1-million-barrel decline in a
Reuters poll. [EIA/S]

* Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for
NYMEX-traded oil fell 800,000 barrels to 28.2 million barrels.

* Gasoline stocks rose 3.9 million barrels to 208.9 million
barrels. The forecast was for a 1.3 million barrel rise.

* Distillate stocks gained 2.1 million barrels to 152.1
million barrels, the highest level since the week to Jan. 8.
1999, when supplies hit $154.2 million barrels. The forecast
was for an 800,000-barrel increase.

* Refinery utilization jumped 1.2 percentage point, to 87.1
percent of capacity, against a forecast for a mere 0.1
percentage point increase.

* The American Petroleum Institute's data on Tuesday showed
inventories of gasoline rose 3.7 million barrels, well above
forecast while crude supplies fell far less than expected and
distillate supply rose much more than forecast.[ID:nN23611991]

* Sales of new single-family homes slipped slightly last
month, but the median sales price rose and was the highest
since December. [ID:nN24158962]

* New U.S. durable manufactured goods orders rose 1.8
percent in May, Commerce Department data on Wednesday showed.
Analysts had expected a decline. [ID:nN24158406]

* U.S. travel over the July 4 Independence Day holiday
weekend will drop 1.9 percent this year, compared with 2008,
travel and auto group AAA projected on Wednesday.
[ID:nN24161876]
(Reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons; Editing by Walter
Bagley)