Crude-oil futures fell Wednesday for a third session, briefly tumbling 6% to below $37 a barrel, as government data showed inventories at a key delivery point rose to the highest since at least April, 2004. Crude inventories at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for crude futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, rose to 28.7 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 19, the Energy Information Administration reported. It was the highest since at least April, 2004, when the government started collecting Cushing data. "The downward pressure in oil prices is from the exceptionally high stocks of oil at Cushing, although total inventories fell," said James Williams. "People pay more attention to Cushing inventories." Crude for February delivery was last down $1.58, or 4.1%, at $37.40 a barrel on the Nymex. It lost as much as $2.35, or 6%, to $36.63 a barrel in overnight electronic trading. The EIA also reported total U.S. crude-oil stockpiles, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell 3.1 million barrels to 318.2 million in the week ending Dec. 19. Analysts surveyed by energy information provider Platts expected an increase of 1.5 million barrels. Gasoline supplies rose by 3.3 million barrels in the latest week, while distillate stocks rose by 1.8 million barrels, EIA reported. Meanwhile, more data were released Wednesday that indicated a weaker U.S. economy, the world's biggest oil consumer. The U.S. labor market continued to worsen in recent weeks, with the unemployment lines stretching to the longest in 26 years, the Labor Department reported. Orders for U.S.-made durable goods fell 1% in November, the Commerce Department estimated, as orders for transportation goods fell 7.4%. Oil was falling "as a continuing barrage of poor macroeconomic news hit the markets," wrote Edward Meir, an energy analyst at MF Global. In other energy trading, January reformulated gasoline fell 2.6% to 83.40 cents a gallon. January heating oil fell 3.5% to $1.281 a gallon.

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