Oil prices fell further on Wednesday after a surprising report that showed U.S. crude inventories rose last week, despite analyst expectations for a significant decline in stockpiles. According to data out from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, the U.S. was stockpiling more than 600,000 barrels, raising the threat of overdemand which sent prices broadly lower. Gasoline stocks increased by 425,000 barrels, starkly contrasting a Reuters poll which showed expectations for a 44,000-barrel decline. U.S. WTI futures were down 0.56 percent as of 9:54 a.m. HK/SIN to $67.70 per barrel. Brent crude futures were down 0.48 percent to $71.81 per barrel.
Oil prices have come under pressure in recent sessions since the reopening of two important Libyan ports earlier this week and hints from Washington that there may be some wiggle room within the guidelines of its upcoming sanctions on Iran. Still, oil prices closed modestly higher on Tuesday after falling 4 percent on Monday. Offers from Saudi Arabia and Russia to increase supply have assuaged the worries about supply scarcity, serving as another prompt for price declines.
Currency Market Movements
The EUR/USD pair was unchanged early in Wednesday’s trading session, with the euro trading at $1.1659. The greenback was also unchanged against the Australian dollar. The dollar continued its climb against the yen, trading 0.06 percent hither to 112.93. The dollar was also up 0.06 percent against the Canadian dollar. The dollar index was up 0.03 percent to 95.02 .DXY. The dollar’s stability came on the heels of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s Congressional testimony on Tuesday during which he provided a positive assessment of the U.S. economy and downplayed the impact of the trade tensions on future interest rate hikes. Following Powell’s testimony analysts continue to expect two more interest rate hikes before the end of 2018.