It was another volatile day in oil trading.
WTI crude oil fell as low as $87.66 in early US trading before reversing higher to trade at a peak of $92.43. After some moderate selling in the final 30 minutes of trading, it settled at $91.93. That's the highest settlement in a week but crude remains near the lowest levels since February.
Today's inventory report was generally bearish but much of that was foreshadowed in API data. What may have gotten the market's attention was the implied motor gasoline demand number in the data. It rose to 9.12m from 8.54m last week. The numbers have been curiously low for some time but today's number was a hint at normalization and a sign that gasoline demand isn't falling off a cliff.
