The price of crude oil was leveling off from near its 3-month high Wednesday morning as traders await cues from the official inventories data from the Energy Information Administration, due out later today.
Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for September delivery, slipped $0.67 to $93.00 a barrel. Yesterday, oil advanced to settle at a 12-week high with investors opting for riskier assets after concerns of potential threats to supply from the Middle East emerged and the dollar trading lower. A fire at the Richmond refinery of Chevron Corp. (CVX) late Monday also added supply concerns as the unit accounts for about ten percent of U.S. West Cost refining capacities.
Tuesday after the market hours, the API said U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 5.40 million barrels, while gasoline stocks added 417,000 barrels in the weekended August 03. Analysts were expecting crude oil inventories to dip by 300,000 barrels and gasoline stocks to shed 2 million barrels last week.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was ticking higher versus the euro, while trading lower against sterling. The buck was little changed versus the yen and the Swiss franc.
In economic news from the euro zone, the Bank of England lowered growth estimate for the U.K. as fiscal consolidation and euro zone debt crisis weigh on demand. In its quarterly Inflation Report, the BoE said economic growth is likely to be around 2 percent in two years, down from the 2.6 percent expansion estimated in May.
Meanwhile, German trade surplus unexpectedly increased in June as imports declined at a pace double than that of exports, indicating that the sovereign debt crisis and the economic slowdown has dampened both domestic and foreign demand. Exports fell 1.5 percent month-on-month on a calendar-and-seasonally adjusted basis, the Federal Statistical Office showed Wednesday. This was faster than economists' forecast for a 1.3 percent drop.
Today during trading hours, the EIA will come out with its U.S. crude oil inventories report for the weekended August 03.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.