By Victor Reklaitis and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. crude-oil futures wobbled near the break-even mark on Wednesday after a bigger-than-expected drawdown in weekly crude stocks and ahead of additional supply data.
Crude oil for September delivery CLU3 -0.44% was last down 15 cents, or 0.1%, to $105.15 a barrel in electronic trading. The contract has given up some ground won since late Tuesday, turning slightly negative.
Prices had moved higher after the close of trade Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, following the American Petroleum Institute’s report that crude stockpiles dropped 3.7 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 2.
That was more than the decline of 2 million barrels that analysts polled by Platts had forecast.
Investors, looking for signals on energy supply, now will comb through the more closely watched U.S. Energy Information Administration’s inventory report, due at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time.
The API also said distillate stocks increased by 1.5 million barrels, while gasoline stocks decreased by 971,000 barrels, according to reports of the data. Analysts had expected inventory for each to decline by 1 million barrels.
Oil futures on Tuesday had lost $1.26, or 1.2%, in Nymex trade, keying off of sharp losses on Wall Street after two Federal Reserve officials separately indicated that the central bank appears ready to start reducing the amount of bond purchases this year.
Crude prices have fallen about 1.7% so far this week. This comes after benchmark U.S. prices touched their highest levels since March 2012 last week.
U.S. crude has dropped “into the lower half of a $103-to-$109 trading channel,” CMC Markets senior market analysts Colin Cieszynski told clients late Tuesday.
“The formation of a head-and-shoulders top in the relative strength index represents a rare but bearish potential signal, which combined with a double top suggests price at risk here,” Cieszynski wrote.
Energy and equity investors will hear more talk about potential tapering of monetary stimulus when Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser and Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto speak later Wednesday.
Meanwhile, September Brent crude UK:LCOU3 -0.78% fell 68 cents, or 0.6%, to $107.50 a barrel on ICE Futures.
September gasoline RBU3 -0.49% shed 1 cent to $2.91 a gallon, and September heating oil HOU3 -1.06% lost 2 cents to $2.99 a gallon.
Natural gas for September delivery NGU13 -1.36% slid a penny, or 0.3%, to $3.31 per million British thermal units.
Victor Reklaitis is a New York-based markets writer for MarketWatch. Follow him on Twitter @VicRek.
Carla Mozee is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @MWMozee.
