Hello MarketClub members everywhere. Oil prices rose off the morning lows after government data showed that U.S. gasoline supplies unexpectedly slipped, while crude stockpiles have increased the most since October.
Gasoline stockpiles fell 869,000 barrels, pushing refining margins higher. Crude inventories climbed 13.8 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 3, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said. That was in line with the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute, which reported a 14.2 million-barrel increase on Tuesday. Gasoline demand climbed the most in a year.
"There's been a lot of concern about plunging gasoline demand and with this report, it's returned to normal levels," John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy, said by telephone. "Healthy gasoline demand eventually translates into higher refinery runs and increasing crude demand."
Gasoline demand increased 7.6 percent to 8.94 million barrels a day, the highest level this year. Consumption slipped to 8.04 million barrels a day in the week ended Jan. 20, the lowest since 2014.
U.S. crude supplies rose to 508.6 million last week, the highest since May, according to the EIA. Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the biggest U.S. storage hub and the delivery point for WTI, climbed 1.14 million barrels.
Key levels to watch next week:
S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 2,254.25
Dow (INDEX:DJI): 19,677.94
NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 5,496.82
Gold (FOREX:XAUUSDO): 1,198.61
Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.H17.E): 54.08
U.S. Dollar (NYBOT:DX.H17.E): 102.96
Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com
Source:Bloomberg
