WTI crude oil prices fell despite some bullish news. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly Crude Oil Inventories report, which measures the weekly change in the number of barrels of commercial crude oil held by U.S. firms.
Pick the best stocks and maximize your portfolio:
- Discover top-rated stocks from highly ranked analysts with Analyst Top Stocks!
- Easily identify outperforming stocks and invest smarter with Top Smart Score Stocks
Compared to last week, inventories fell by 4.581 million barrels. For reference, economists were expecting a decrease of 1.088 million barrels week-over-week. This means that demand was much stronger than anticipated. Nevertheless, WTI fell 2.1% to settle at $79.16 per barrel.
In addition, the latest numbers from the American Petroleum Institute indicate a decrease of 2.7 million barrels in the U.S. oil stockpile in the week ended April 14.
Meanwhile, Natural gas plunged 6.1% to close at $2.222 per MMBtu. Despite recent gains, owing to expectations of colder weather, prices are still down substantially in 2023.
Furthermore, the United States Oil Fund ETF (USO) has climbed 4.6% on a year-to-date basis. Here is a list of energy stocks that can be influenced by the latest developments in the energy markets.
Read full Disclosure