Ticker	Volume	Price	Price Delta
DJIA	12,454.80	-74.92	-0.60%
S&P 500	1,317.82	-2.86	-0.22%
Nasdaq	2,837.53	-1.85	-0.07%

Ticker	Volume	Price	Price Delta
STOXX 50	2,161.87	+5.35	0.25%
FTSE 100	5,351.53	+1.48	0.03%
DAX	6,339.94	+24.05	0.38%

Ticker	Volume	Price	Price Delta
Nikkei	8,580.39	+17.01	0.20%
TOPIX	722.11	-0.14	-0.02%
Hang Seng	18,713.40	+47.01	0.25%

Crude Oil May Decline as Fuel Inventories Increase, Bloomberg Survey Shows

By Mark Shenk - 2010-08-06T19:38:33Z

Crude oil may fall next week on speculation that U.S. fuel inventories will climb as demand declines, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Twenty-eight of 46 analysts, or 61 percent, forecast crude oil will decline through Aug. 13. It was the most bearish result since July 2009. Twelve respondents, or 26 percent, predicted that futures will increase and six saw little change. Last week 42 percent of analysts forecast a drop.

Gasoline supplies increased 729,000 barrels, or 0.3 percent, to 223 million last week, the highest level since April 30, an Aug. 4 Energy Department report showed. Stockpiles of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, rose 2.17 million barrels to 169.7 million, the highest level since the week ended Oct. 16.

“Fundamentals show a U.S. market that is still overstocked, particularly on the product side,” said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York. “This leaves the market vulnerable to downdrafts like the one we saw in May.”

Oil in New York tumbled to $64.24 on May 20, the lowest intraday price since July 30, 2009.

U.S. fuel consumption dropped 2.5 percent to 19.3 million barrels a day last week, according to the Energy Department.

Crude oil inventories in the 15-state Midwest rose to 97.7 million barrels in the week ended July 30, the highest level recorded since the data started in 1990, the report showed.

Crude oil for September delivery increased $1.75, or 2.2 percent, to $80.70 a barrel this week on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 12 percent from a year ago.

The oil survey has correctly predicted the direction of futures 47 percent of the time since its start in April 2004.

     Bloomberg’s survey of oil analysts and traders, conducted
each Thursday, asks for an assessment of whether crude oil
futures are likely to rise, fall or remain neutral in the coming
week. The results were:

     RISE      NEUTRAL    FALL
     12         6         28

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net