In the energy market on Wednesday, crude for August delivery accelerated its slide, closing at $60.14/barrel, down $2.79. August reformulated gasoline lost 9.95 cents, to $1.6333/gallon.
In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said that crude stocks fell by 2.9 million barrels in the week ended July 3, slightly less than anticipated. gasoline supplies rose 1.9 million barrels, and distillates were up 3.7 million barrels. Refineries were operating at 86.8% of capacity last week, vs. the previous week’s 87%.

There were no great surprises in the report. However, there was an uptick in crude inventories at Cushing, Okla. — the delivery point for crude futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. They jumped to 30.2 million barrels last week, up 5.6%, which added a bit of pressure to futures prices.

Summing up, “The market is adjusting itself,” said Michael Fitzpatrick, of MF Global. “In the past few weeks, there was a lot of wishful thinking that the economy will recover. Now people realize there is no evidence of any sustainable economic growth.”

Source: Crude’s Slide Intensifies