A weaker-than-expected US manufacturing report halted an early-session crude oil price rally and swung futures into negative territory in midmorning trading Friday. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now NYMEX April WTI was down 65 cents at $56.56/b and ICE May Brent fell 92 cents to $65.39/b. US manufacturing activity expanded at a slower rate in February, according to Institute of Supply Management data released Friday morning. The group’s closely watched manufacturing index fell to 54.2% in February, a 2.4 percentage point drop from 56.6% in January. “Concerns of weaker economic growth or demand growth may have sparked some profit-taking here,” Tradition Energy analyst Gene McGillian said. “When the market gets focused on it we seem to come under pressure.” The report comes on the heels of a decline in a key Chinese manufacturing index. China’s February Manufacturing Purchasing Index, released […]