WTI/RBOB prices sank today (amid OPEC and IEA comments and a dollar spike) ahead of tonight’s inventory data. Following last week’s surprise draw, API reported a crude build this week (though smaller than expected) and along with another gasoline build, sent energy prices lower.
API
Crude +933k (+3mm exp)
Cushing -1.277mm (-1.2mm exp)
Gasoline +1.914mm
Distillates -1.473mm
Following last week’s surprise crude draw, expectations were for a sizable build but API data showed only a modest build (but still a build) and once again Gasoline inventories increased.If the Cushing data holds for tomorrow’s DOE data, this would be 10th weekly draw in a row…
“The comments from the IEA head about the pace of U.S. shale growth might have taken the wind out of the bull’s sails,” John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund, told Bloomberg. Heftier stockpiles and a slide in refiner demand “should end up being a bearish factor for the market as well.”
Prices had limped lower into the API data (with WTI back below $63), then confused algos briefly popped prices before they sank to the day’s lows…
