Weekly DOE Data... Rising Oil & Gasoline Stocks As Refining Holds Up (VLO, USO)

Investing

Published: February 1, 2012 10:39 am

The weekly data from the Department of Energy showed a rise in Crude Oil Stocks, with a gain of 4.175 million barrels to 338.942 million barrels. Dow Jones had been expecting a build up of only about 3 million barrels and we were not given any data to suggest much different expectations this week. The big surprise came from gasoline inventories, which rose by 3.01 million barrels to 230.147 million barrels. Dow Jones was expecting only 200,000 to build and we had been told to look for a build up of closer to 1 million barrels.

The good news is that refining capacity did not drop as much as the last week’s refining capacity fell to 81.8% from 82.2% a week earlier. Dow Jones was expecting 81.4% and our data was closer to 81.5%.

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) has held up well since earnings and the stock today is lagging the broad market up 0.6% at $24.12.

The United States Oil Fund (NYSE: USO) is up 0.1% at $37.87 after the news.

JON C. OGG

Cash Back Credit Cards Have Never Been This Good

Credit card companies are at war, handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers. A good cash back card can be worth thousands of dollars a year in free money, not to mention other perks like travel, insurance, and access to fancy lounges. See our top picks for the best credit cards today. You won’t want to miss some of these offers.

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.