Crude oil prices and related exchange traded funds weakened Wednesday after U.S. output hit another record and domestic inventories surged.
On Wednesday, the United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO), which tracks West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, declined 0.7% and the United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSEArca: BNO), which tracks Brent crude oil futures, was flat.
Meanwhile, WTI crude oil futures were 0.9% lower to $61.7 per barrel and Brent crude was down 0.1% to $72.1 per barrel.
While crude oil prices somewhat strengthened in early morning trade on news that Russia and Saudi Arabia were in talks to cut down crude output next year, oil prices pared earlier gains once the U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed domestic crude inventories rose 5.8 million barrels last week, or more than double expectations, Reuters reports.
Furthermore, crude output jumped to 11.6 million barrels per day, a weekly record.