New York--Crude oil futures settled in the red Wednesday as an industry report indicated much higher-than-expected increases in U.S. stockpiles, bringing inventories to an 18-year high.
Crude
After hovering in the $49 to $50 range Wednesday, crude for May delivery ended up down 16 cents per barrel, or 0.32%, to settle at $49.25, down for the third consecutive trading day, according to the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Inventories increased 5.6 million barrels from the previous week, bringing total stockpiles to 366.7 million barrels for the week ending April 10, according to a weekly report released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration. Analysts had expected inventories to rise by 2.1 million barrels, according to a Dow Jones survey.
Crude inventories are up for the fifth consecutive week and continue to build upon 18-year highs.
Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures, told FOX Business that despite falling oil prices now, he expects them to shoot up in the coming weeks.
“In the near term I would expect it to drop, but I do expect it to continue moving higher. I think the finished products are really what are going to drag this market to higher levels. Refinery operations are down and are going to be down for some time yet, although they will be coming back on line before summer,” he said.
Other Fuels
Other fuels followed crude’s lead into the red Wednesday amid the report’s indication of further inventory increases. Natural gas was the sole metal to shoot into the green.
Natural gasoline for May delivery rose 0.4 cents per million BTUs, or 0.11%, to $3.693, amid the industry report’s indication that total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 900,000 barrels last week. Natural gas has been in the green for three straight days.
Consumers at the pump can expect to pay $2.051 Wednesday for regular unleaded gasoline, up slightly from Tuesday’s average of $2.050, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. A year ago consumers were paying $3.386.
“I think we’re headed for $3 at the pumps somewhere around July. I don’t know that we’ll go much above that though and I don’t think that it will maintain those levels and certainly will stay at lower levels that we have seen in the previous year” Waggoner told FOX Business.
Heating oil for May delivery fell 0.13 cents per gallon, or 0.09%, to $1.4010, down two of the last three trading days. RBOB gasoline for May delivery fell 1.08 cents per gallon, or 0.74%, to $1.4468, down for the third day in a row.
Metals
Precious metals all showed gains Wednesday in an attempt to hedge against rapidly increasing oil inventories amid slumped demand.
Gold for April delivery gained $1.90 a troy ounce, or 0.21%, to $892.80 Wednesday and Silver gained 3.50 cents per troy ounce, or 0.27%, to $12.795- both up two of the past three sessions.
Copper for April delivery gained 8.85 cents per pound, or 4.18%, to $2.2035, up five of the past six sessions. Wednesday’s settlement was its highest since October 15, 2008.
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