Crude stocks at key Cushing, Okla., delivery point unexpectedly decline: API By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures rose above $70 a barrel on Wednesday, recovering more than 2% as good economic news topped off a recent report showing a decline in inventories at a key delivery point. Crude for July delivery gained $1.60, or 2.4%, to $70.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract hit an intraday high of $70.93 a barrel, according to FactSet Research. July crude had ended down 2.1% on Tuesday. U.S. data on orders for durable goods in April, reported earlier, "look good, and you have a potentially bullish inventory report coming up," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research, Winchester, Mass. Durable-goods orders were up 2.9% in April, the Commerce Department reported. Airplane demand pushed the overall gain, which was larger than analysts expected. Energy traders awaited the government's Energy Information Administration to report updated weekly data on the U.S. oil and oil products inventories at 10:30 a.m. Eastern. That report comes on the heels of inventories data reported by the American Petroleum Institute trade group late Tuesday. The API's figures came in mostly mixed for last week -- but showed an important decline in stockpiles in Cushing, Okla. -- the main delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange Crude stocks at Cushing "decreased last week for the first time in seven weeks, raising hopes of an end to stock-building," Commerzbank analysts wrote, citing the API data. Specifically, stockpiles at Cushing dropped by 772,000 barrels last week to stand at 37.2 million barrels, the API reported. In addition, gasoline stocks declined by 3.19 million barrels on the week, the API data showed. This lent a further boost to hopes for a recovery in energy demand. "API numbers don't match the DOE's numbers precisely, but they can give you a sense of direction," Lynch said. Analysts polled by Platts expect a weekly increase of 100,000 barrels for crude, but again the focus will be on the level of inventories at Cushing. Gasoline stocks are projected to rise by 150,000 barrels and distillates by 200,000 barrels, according to the Platts survey. "A recovery in the global equity markets and a drop in crude-oil stocks at Cushing could spread signs of optimism across the energy market and could drive oil prices back to the previous range of $70-$75 per barrel," Myrto Sokou, analyst at Sucden Financial Research, wrote in a note. Also getting factored into energy trading Wednesday, European stocks posted strong gains and U.S. stocks also rose in early action. In the currency markets, the euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2232, -0.0140, -1.1316%) was once again under selling pressure. It fell 0.7% to $1.2268.

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