Crude oil prices and related ETFs rallied Wednesday on high inventory drawdowns, reflecting strong demand for oil.
On Wednesday, the United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO), which tracks West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, was up 3.4% and the United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSEArca: BNO), which tracks Brent crude oil futures, added 3.0%, with both oil ETFs testing their short-term resistance at the 50-day simple moving average. Meanwhile, WTI crude oil futures were 3.2% higher to $67.9 per barrel and Brent crude futures were up 3.0% to $74.5 per barrel.
Related: Top 34 Oil ETFs
Oil prices strengthened after the American Petroleum Institute revealed late Tuesday that U.S. crude oil stockpiles declined by 5.2 million barrels for the week ended August 17, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Energy Information Administration will release its official numbers Wednesday and could show a 2 million barrel drawdown in crude stocks, according to oil analysts.