WTI Crude Daily Update for February 24, 2017

Crude oil prices moved higher climbing 1.4%, but failed to take out resistance near Wednesday’s highs near $55, after rising as much as 2.6% on the session.  Prices received a jolt early from the larger than expected draw reported by the API, but the DOE’s numbers were more sanguine, allowing prices to ease back into their recent range.  Support is seen near the 10-day moving average at $53.83. Momentum remains neutral as the MACD (moving average convergence divergence) index prints near the zero index level with a flat trajectory which points to consolidation.

Total Petroleum Inventories Drop in Latest Week

The DOE revealed that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.6 million barrels from the previous week. Expectations were for a 3.5 million barrel increase. Gasoline inventories decreased by 2.6 million barrels last week. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 4.9 million barrels last week while propane inventories fell 3.3 million barrels last week. Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 11.0 million barrels last week.