A tropical storm helped boost exchange traded funds (ETFs) that follow the oil price movements earlier this month; however, oil ETFs were slightly down Wednesday.
U.S. Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) and U.S.12 Month Oil (NYSEArca: USL) were off 0.63% and 1.09%, respectively.
Benchmark crude was slightly up, hovering below $90 a barrel, reports Chris Kahn for the Associated Press.
The Tropical Storm Lee damaged oil platforms along the Gulf earlier this month, which halted production by as much as 900,000 barrels a day.
The Energy Information Administration stated that oil inventories diminished by a greater-than-anticipated 7.3 million barrels last week mostly as a result of the Tropical Storm.
However, the drop in supplies should not be interpreted as a signal that the economy in need of more as the “global market isn’t really tightening,” Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, remarked.
Investors, though, were hoarding oil ahead of the Fed’s meeting in anticipation of new measures that would help stimulate the economy, which should increase energy demand.
U.S. Oil Fund
For more information on oil, visit our oil category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.