Crude Oil Shows Another Substantial Move To The Upside

(RTTNews) - Extending the surge seen in the previous session, crude oil prices moved sharply higher during trading on Wednesday.

After jumping $1.79 or 2.2 percent to $81.53 a barrel, crude for May delivery shot up another $1.73 or 2.1 percent to $83.26 a barrel.

The continued spike by the price of crude oil came as tamer-than-expected inflation data contributed to an extended pullback in the value of the U.S. dollar.

The Labor Department report showed consumer prices rose less than expected on a monthly basis in March, while the annual rate of growth slowed by more than expected.

The data led to speculation the Federal Reserve is close to ending its interest rate hikes, although many economists still expect the Fed to raise rates by another quarter point early next month.

Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, said oil also got a boost comments from Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm suggesting the U.S. wants to soon bring back the Strategic Petroleum Reserve back to pre-Ukraine War levels.

"She didn't specify when and if they would be buying at different levels than what they have already signaled in the past," said Moya. "The Biden administration has signaled that they would be buyers of crude at or below the $67-$72 a barrel range."

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Energy Information Administration showing an unexpected uptick in U.S. crude oil inventories in the week ended April 7th.

The report said crude oil inventories crept up by 0.6 million barrels last week compared to expectations for a decrease of 0.6 million barrels.

At the same time, gasoline inventories edged down by 0.3 million barrels and distillate fuel inventories dipped by 0.6 million barrels.