The latest inventory data released by the U.S. Department of Energy shows some interesting fluctuations. Crude oil inventories for the week of 09-Jan increased by 3.91 million barrels, sharply contrasting with the market expectation of a decrease of 1.682 million barrels — the previous week’s inventories had also fallen by 3.832 million barrels.

Distillate inventories slightly declined by 29 thousand barrels, a modest decrease but still below the estimated reduction of 662 thousand barrels; last week, this figure had risen by 5.594 million barrels. Cushing inventories increased by 745 thousand barrels week-over-week, remaining stable compared to the previous week’s increase of 728 thousand barrels.

Notably, gasoline inventories performed strongly — increasing by 8.977 million barrels, surpassing the expected increase of 2 million barrels, with the previous week’s increase being 7.702 million barrels. Overall, the unexpected growth in crude oil and gasoline inventories may reflect signs of weakening demand, and such data typically influence the energy sector’s trends, subsequently affecting the entire commodities market and related investor sentiment.