oil futures traded slightly higher on tuesday as investors awaited us supply data and an update on us inflation in june due wednesday   west texas intermediate crude for august delivery cl00 clq24 gained 52 cents or 07 to 7351 per barrel on the new york mercantile exchange   september brent crude brn00 brnu23 gained 53 cents or 07 to 7821 per barrel on ice futures europe   august gasoline rbq23 fell by 08 to 25929 a gallon while august heating oil hoq23 rose 1 to 2594 per gallon oil prices briefly touched their highest level intraday in a month on monday when prices of west texas intermediate crude futures neared 79 a barrel some analysts believe this could be a sign that prices are heading higher perhaps past 80 a barrel for the first time since april “while it is still trading around the range highs since early may the break of the recent high could be viewed as a bullish step that could give it the momentum to break back above 80” said craig erlam senior market analyst at oanda investors are looking ahead to us weekly inventory data from the american petroleum institute later tuesday and the us energy information administration due wednesday as well as the us june consumerprice index reading the last major data before the next federal reserve policy meeting due on july 2526 economists polled by the wall street journal expect headline inflation to slow to 31 for the year and core inflation which strips out volatile food and energy prices to slow to 5 yearoveryear