Natural-gas futures slide 4% after storage report By Claudia Assis, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures trimmed some of their gains Thursday as traders peeked under the hood of an inventories report and didn't like what they saw. Crude for August delivery added $1.10, or 1.5%, to $75.15 a barrel, still oil's highest price in a week but a slight decline from earlier levels. Natural-gas futures turned lower after a separate report showed a larger-than-expected increase in stockpiles. The Energy Information Administration reported a decline of 5 million barrels in the nation's crude-oil inventories last week. The market widely expected the draw given the interruptions due to Hurricane Alex and a report from a trade group on Wednesday also showing a sizeable decline. The EIA also reported an increase of 1.3 million barrels for gasoline stockpiles and an increase of 300,000 for distillates stocks. While the decrease in crude stocks "was not a very big surprise," markets were reacting negatively to the increase for gasoline stocks and the smaller-than-expected decrease in crude oil stored in Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for Nymex oil, said Tariq Zahir, an analyst with Tyche Capital in New York. "While the headline for crude is bullish ... if you look more closely, the numbers for unleaded gasoline were bearish. We feel the unleaded gas markets numbers continues to show lackluster demand and will put pressure on the entire energy complex in the days to come," he said in e-mailed comments. Reformulated gasoline for August delivery added 2 cents, or 1.2%, to $2.05 a gallon. The EIA report on inventories came a day later than usual due to the Fourth of July holiday. The American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday reported a decline of 7.3 million barrels in oil inventories on the week ended July 2. Natural-gas futures for August delivery declined 19 cents, or 4.1%, to $4.38 per million British thermal units. A close around those levels will be natural gas's lowest since June 1. Earlier Thursday, the EIA showed a larger-than-expected increase in natural-gas stockpiles. The EIA reported an increase by 78 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 2, while analysts polled by Platts had expected an increase of 70 to 74 billion cubic feet. That increase compares to 74 billion cubic feet reported in the same week last year, and a five-year average addition of 80 billion cubic feet. Oil held on to its gains as the Labor Department Thursday said initial claims for jobless benefits fell 21,000 to 454,000 in the latest week. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected initial claims to fall to 458,000. Separately, the International Monetary Fund raised its outlook on global economic growth to 4.5% from the previously reported 4.1%. The agency also boosted its forecast for U.S. growth to 3.3%, but warned of looming risk from Europe's debt issues.

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