Breves

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published on 03/15/2023 at 6:10 p.m.

Commercial stocks of crude oil resumed their rise last week in the United States, according to figures published on Wednesday by the American Energy Information Agency (EIA), recording their tenth increase in eleven weeks. During the week ended March 10, commercial reserves increased by 1.6 million barrels, almost in line with the consensus established by the Bloomberg agency (+1.5 million).

This increase comes despite a marked acceleration in activity at refineries, whose utilization rate climbed to 88.2% last week, against 86.0% in the previous period, the highest since the end of December. This paradox is explained by an adjustment of the figures of the EIA, which added some 15.6 million barrels over the week to the quantities officially in circulation, a statistical modification which generally testifies to an error of initial estimate.

For Matt Smith, of Kpler, this is due to an overestimation of exports and the rate of utilization of refinery capacities. The quantities exported being less than announced and the refineries using less crude than expected, the volumes of oil available on the American market are therefore significantly higher than the EIA had suggested so far, which explains the increase in commercial stocks.

Gasoline inventories down 2.1 million barrels

At the same time, demand for refined products emerged at a still weak level. Over four weeks, the indicator favored by analysts reached 19.6 million barrels per day, or 6% less than last year at the same time. Mainly in question, distilled products, including diesel, down 12% compared to last year, and propane, whose demand is 24% lower than the same period of 2022.

For Matt Smith, the fall of 2.1 million barrels of gasoline stocks is not linked to a renewed appetite for this fuel but to the same statistical anomaly which gave rise to an adjustment. As for production, it remained unchanged at 12.2 million barrels per day.

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published on 03/15/2023 at 15:01

Wholesale prices in the United States, which measure theinflation on the producer side, fell in February compared to January, due in particular to the fall in gasoline prices, and experienced, over one year, their weakest increase in almost two years. Prices fell 0.1% month on month, after rebounding in January, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department. This is good news, since analysts expected a further increase of 0.3%, according to the consensus of Briefing.com.

Over one year, the rise in prices slowed markedly, to 4.6%, against 5.7% in January. This is the weakest change since March 2021. PPI inflation measures inflation from the perspective of manufacturers and sellers. The CPI index, which measures inflation on the consumer side, fell in February to 6.0% over one year from 6.4% in January.

Inflation as seen by consumers is also measured by another index, the PCE, which is favored by the American central bank (Fed), and is published at the end of the month. The Federal Reserve (Fed) wants to bring it back to around 2%, and it was 5.4% over one year in January. The next Fed meeting will be March 21-22.