Oil prices edged lower on stubborn U.S. inflation and a larger-than-expected increase in crude inventories

(1) Crude oil fell in early Asian trading on Wednesday after data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) said crude inventories rose more than expected last week and investors’ expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates eased. (2) Brent crude futures are currently down 0.46% at $82.38. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 0.3% to $77.56 a barrel. (3) U.S. crude inventories rose by 8.52 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 9, well above the 2.6 million barrels expected by survey analysts, according to API data. (4) ING analysts noted in a report that “the growth of crude oil inventories is quite Unfavourable information.” However, this was offset by a sharp decline in oil inventories. ” (5) API data showed that gasoline inventories fell by 7.23 million barrels and distillate inventories fell by 4.02 million barrels, both of which far exceeded analysts’ expectations. (6) Official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be released at 23:30 on Wednesday. (7) Tuesday’s data showed that U.S. consumer inflation remained elevated last month, which also weighed on the market. Investors are now expecting the Fed to wait longer before cutting interest rates, which could dampen economic growth and oil demand. The U.S. dollar rose to a three-month high as the market cut interest rate cut expectations, leaving oil bulls wary