Crude oil falls as U.S. supplies rise more than expected
Published Jun 26, 2013 01:27PM ET
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded down 0.06% at USD95.26 a barrel on Wednesday, off from a session high of USD95.59 and up from an earlier session low of USD93.71.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report earlier that U.S. crude oil inventories remained largely unchanged in the week ended June 21, confounding expectations for a decline of 1.7 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 394.1 million barrels as of last week. Supplies climbed to 396.3 million earlier this month, the most since July 1981.
The report also showed that total motor gasoline inventories increased by 3.7 million barrels, above expectations for an increase of 855,000 barrels.
The numbers sent prices falling on concerns the U.S. economy is awash in crude as did softer-than-expected economic growth revisions.
The Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 1.8% in the three months to March, below an earlier estimate of 2.4% growth. Economists had expected the growth rate to remain unchanged at 2.4%.
The report said consumer spending was revised down from 3.4% to 2.6%.
Oil avoided a broad selloff, as recent housing, factory and consumer-confidence data in the U.S. beat consensus forecasts and confirmed expectations that the economy is on the mend and will demand more fuels and energy as the year progresses.
Plus weaker-than expected growth figures stoked expectations for the Federal Reserve to keep stimulus programs in place for the coming months, which tend to bolster energy prices as a side effect.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for August delivery were up 0.04% at USD101.31 a barrel, up USD6.05 from its U.S. counterpart.
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Written By: Investing.com
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