2017.05.2307:57:00UTC+00Crude Oil Holds Near $51 Ahead Of OPEC Meeting

Crude oil futures were lower Tuesday, amid reports that Saudi Arabia and Iraq are meeting to salvage a deal that would extend OPEC's supply quota plan by nine months.

OPEC meets Thursday in Vienna. A number of cartel members have argued behind the scenes that extending the supply quota plan is a waste of time, given robust U.S. production.

WTI Light sweet crude oil for July was down 20 cents at $50.96 a barrel.

U.S. oil inventories data is due out over the next few days. The American Petroleum Institute releases its weekly report this afternoon, whole the Energy Information Administration reports tomorrow morning.

Also tomorrow, the Federal Reserve shares the minutes of its most recent policy meeting. Traders are looking for clues about whether the Fed will raise interest rates in June.

In U.S. economic news, the flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index or PMI for May will be released at 9:45 am ET this morning. The economists are looking for composite consensus of 53.2, compared to 52.7 last month.

New Home Sales for April will be published at 10:00 am ET. The consensus for new home sales is 604K, down from 621K last month.