The Department of Energy is out with its weekly oil and gasoline inventory data and we saw a slight drop in both crude and gasoline inventories. Weekly DOE crude oil stocks fell by 809,000 barrels to 377.391 million barrels. Dow Jones had a consensus calling for a drop of 1.1 million barrels, so this is a lower drop than expected. United States Oil (NYSEMKT: USO) is up 0.93% at $33.69.
Gasoline inventories fell sharply, dropping by 1.815 million barrels. Dow Jones was looking for a gain of 800,000 barrels and we were looking for a build of even less than the Dow Jones target. United States Gasoline (NYSEMKT: UGA) is trading up about 1.6% at $53.37.
The refining capacity moderated slightly but is still running at a very high level of 92% versus 92.7% last week and versus 92.8% expected by Dow Jones. We were targeting a somewhat lower figure than last week’s data based on lower pump prices and lower consumption. Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) is up 1.1% at $37.09 and Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is up 1.7% at $25.89.
The oil and gas services companies have seen shares pop then drop so far this morning considering this report. The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSEMKT: OIH) is up much more with a 1.3% gain to $37.45 this morning against a 52-week low of $32.54
Paul Ausick
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks