* Wall Street slides after Trump tariff announcement
* OPEC officials to meet U.S. shale execs Monday
* OPEC output fell in February (New throughout, updates prices, market activity and commentsto settlement)
By Ayenat Mersie
NEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) - Oil slumped more than 1percent on Thursday, touching two-week lows under pressure froma retreating stock market and worries about surging U.S. crudeoutput.
Brent LCOc1 , the global benchmark, settled at $63.83 abarrel, down 90 cents, or 1.4 percent. U.S. crude CLc1 settleddown 65 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $60.99 a barrel, aftertouching a low of $60.18. The session lows for both benchmarkswere the lowest in two weeks.
"Ever since we had that extreme sell-off by equity markets acouple of weeks ago, oil prices seem to have one eye on theactivity of the equity markets and have been under a stronginfluence of the dollar," said Matt Smith, director of commodityresearch at ClipperData.
U.S. stock markets fell more than 1 percent after PresidentDonald Trump announced import tariffs on steel and aluminum. U.S. dollar hit a six-week high early but retreated inthe afternoon, which tempered losses in crude futures. A weakerdollar can boost oil and other greenback-denominatedcurrencies. FRX/
"One of the things that contributed to the strength of the(oil) market was the weakness of the dollar over the past couplemonths," said Gene McGillian, manager of market research atTradition Energy in Stamford.
On Wednesday, weekly data from the U.S. Energy InformationAdministration showed a larger-than-expected increase in U.S.crude inventories and a rise in gasoline stocks. EIA/S
U.S. crude output slipped in the last month of 2017, but inNovember hit an all-time high of 10.057 million barrels per day(bpd). Weekly data showed another record and further gains areexpected. report ... has reawakened concerns that U.S.production levels will offset OPEC production cuts," saidMcGillian.
OPEC officials will meet U.S. shale executives at a U.S.energy conference on Monday, underlining the influence ofAmerican output on global prices. standoff 'shale versus sheikh' continues to frame theoil market, with the former again gaining the upper hand," saidNorbert Ruecker, head of macro and commodity research at JuliusBaer. "We see more downside for oil."
OPEC's cut, which began a year ago, has helped boost pricesfrom levels below $30 seen in January 2016.
A Reuters survey on Wednesday found OPEC production fell inFebruary to a 10-month low. OPEC/O
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^TECHNICALS-Brent oil to fall to $64.83
oil may drop more to $60.09