The price of oil moved lower Wednesday, down 0.6% or 44 cents to $70.98 as the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s released the latest oil inventory numbers, showing a slightly larger-than-expected increase.
The EIA reports that U.S. commercial crude inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased by 1.7 million barrels in the week ending July 31, compared to the previous week.
MarketWatch reports that analysts surveyed by Platts expected a rise of 1.5 million barrels.
“At 349.5 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are above the upper boundary of the average range for this time of year,” says the EIA.
Meanwhile, total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 0.2 million barrels last week, distillate fuel inventories decreased by 1.1 million barrels, and propane/propylene inventories increased by 0.6 million barrels last week.
On the Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bear Plus ETF Bullboard, afshaikh said: “Crude might test 69 today if it comes in bearish...already the market is taking profits[sic]”
While Piperdown noted “Until the commodity craziness slows down a bit, I am out of shorting oil. I didn't like how the markets reacted to the inventory numbers. It looks as though oil is trending back up again. I will be watching to make an entry in the coming days. Good luck[sic]”.