NYMEX-US crude eases below $88 on stimulus concerns

SINGAPORE Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. crude prices extended losses on Wednesday to fall below $88 a barrel, pressured by concerns that central banks may not deliver enough stimulus to prevent a global economic slowdown.

FUNDAMENTALS

* NYMEX crude for September delivery fell 24 cents to $87.82 a barrel in early Asia trading, adding to a loss of $1.72 the previous session.

* U.S. crude inventories plunged last week by the most since 2008, dropping by 11.6 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday. That was far steeper drop than the 700,000 barrel decline forecast in a Reuters poll.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will issue its weekly report at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.

* Pressure is rising on the Federal Reserve to do more to help the sputtering U.S. economy as policymakers at the central bank meet this week. No major policy change is expected to be announced on Wednesday, although some economists think the Fed could push further into the future its conditional pledge to keep rates near zero through late 2014.

* President Barack Obama announced new U.S. sanctions against foreign banks that help Iran sell its oil.

MARKETS NEWS

* U.S. stocks slipped on Tuesday while European shares snapped a three-day winning streak on fear central banks may not deliver enough stimulus to quell concerns about a global slowdown.

* U.S. home prices rose for the fourth month in a row in May, suggesting the recovery in the housing market continued to gain traction, even as the broader economy wobbles.

* Germany's finance ministry reiterated its view there is no need to grant a banking license to the euro zone's new bailout fund, a move that could enable it to buy virtually unlimited amounts of debt issued by troubled euro zone states.

DATA/EVENTS

* The following data is expected on Wednesday:

0100 China NBS Manufacturing PMI Jul

0230 China HSBC Mfg PMI Final Jul

0400 U.S. Total Vehicle Sales Jul

0500 India HSBC Markit Mfg PMI Jul

0743 Italy Markit/ADACI Mfg PMI Jun

0753 Germany Markit/BME Mfg PMI Jul

0758 EZ Markit Mfg PMI Jul

1200 Brazil Industrial output yy Jun

1258 U.S. Markit Mfg PMI Jul

1400 U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI Jul

1400 U.S. Construction spending mm Jun

1430 U.S. EIA petroleum status report Weekly

1815 U.S. Fed policy decision Jun

U.S. Vehicle sales Jul

Russia HSBC Mfg PMI Jul (Reporting by Randy Fabi; Editing by John Mair)