Crude oil stagnant near $88.50

Crude oil prices held under $89 per barrel Wednesday morning in a week of disappointing data from the U.S. manufacturing sector. Economic researchers at Markit said factory activity was still expanding, but at the slowest pace in close to five years. Britain's national data office said its gross domestic product in the second quarter dropped 0.7 percent compared to the first quarter, a larger drop than economists had predicted. The consensus forecast called for a drop of 0.2 percent. Markets, when the predictions are off, react quickly as investors adjust to the data. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, September delivery West Texas Intermediate crude oil lost 2 cents to $88.48 per barrel. Reformulated blendstock gasoline shed 2.8 cents to $2.6978 per gallon. Home heating oil gave up 0.66 cents to $2.8197 per gallon. Natural gas lost 6.3 cents to $3.124 per million British thermal units. At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline climbed to $3.485 per gallon from Tuesday's $3.477, AAA said.