Gasoline stocks rose a sharp 4.134 million barrels to 210.04 million barrels. The estimate from Dow Jones was for a drop of 500,000. We were expecting a flat reading. United States Gasoline (NYSEMKT: UGA) also fell on the news and is now down by over 2% at $51.28 on the day.
We do not track distillate stocks but these also rose by 1.708 million barrels to 125.239 million barrels. Dow Jones had an estimate of +1.1 million barrels.
The big gain also came in refineries, which ran at a high level of 93.0%. Last week it was 92.0%, and Dow Jones was calling for 91.8%. Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) has not really reacted to the higher refining rates and shares are down 0.75% at $34.97, while Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is down by 1.5% at $24.82.
The oil and gas services companies have seen shares pop then drop so far this morning considering this report. The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSEMKT: OIH) is still down, but off its lows as shares are down 0.4% at $37.12 on the day.
JON C. OGG