Inventories numbers show large increases in crude oil, gasoline stockpiles

Copper prices were at their lowest in six weeks on Wednesday as it began to look as if demand for the metal in China could be slowing as the market has been flooded with copper on strong imports. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dropped $145 on the session to $7,610 per tonne after going as low as $7,540 per tonne during the day.

Three-month nickel was also lower on the day, ending down $150 to $50,450 per tonne on LME inventories that were up by 198 tonnes. Nickel was at an all-time high earlier in the month. Zinc dropped $75 to $3,840 per tonne, while tin was $175 lower to $13,950 per tonne. Aluminium nearly even, dropping only $2, to $2,848 per tonne. Lead bucked the trend adding $10 to $2,095 per tonne.

In early afternoon trade in New York, precious metals prices were also lower. Gold fell $13 to $661.50 per troy ounce, while silver dropped 37 cents to $12.95 per troy ounce and platinum was $13.80 lower to $1,325.80 per troy ounce.

Crude oil prices were lower on the day as well, with West Texas Intermediate crude June contracts down $1.06 in early afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $62.11 per barrel. Meanwhile, June delivery Brent crude was 47 cents lower on the Intercontinental Exchange in London to $67.64 per barrel.

The declines came as the US Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil, gasoline, and distillate stockpiles were all higher in the week ending May 11. Crude oil inventories were up by 1 million barrels to 342.2 million barrels, on an expected increase of only 500,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories added 1.7 million barrels to 195.2 million barrels, well above the expected increase of 900,000 barrels but still below the lower reaches of average for the time of year. Distillates inventories were up 1 million barrels to 119.8 million barrels during the week. While the increase in distillates was a bit less than the 1.2 million barrels expected, stockpiles of oil and diesel fuel remain at the upper boundary of average for this time of year.

Nymex gasoline futures were down 1.35 cents to $2.2881 per gallon, while Nymex heating oil dropped 4.69 cents to $1.8433 per gallon in the wake of the new EIA data. Natural gas prices were 3.6 cents lower to $7.828 per 1,000 cubic feet. However, the news didn’t have any effect on the at-the-pump price of gasoline in the United States, which hit a new record high for the fourth day in a row. Self-serve unleaded now averages $3.103 per gallon across the country, a gain of 2.3 percent in the past week and 8.6 percent in the past month.

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