Crude oil prices made their way higher on Wednesday morning, due mostly to inventories sliding slightly.
Oil prices had been up a solid 0.7% in the minutes leading up to the latest weekly inventory report, but saw a sudden spike in the report's wake. Crude was last quoted at $79.85 U.S. per barrel, up 0.9%.
Crude oil inventories for the week ending November 13 had a draw of 887,000, which is a surprise relative to the build of 300,000 barrels that had been widely expected. Gasoline inventories had a draw of 1.76 million barrels, which is more than the draw of 25,000 that analysts had come to expect.
Meanwhile, natural gas prices are under pressure. They were last quoted 2.2% lower at $4.53 U.S. each.
Precious metals are faring well this session. Gold was last quoted at $1,147.50 per ounce, up 0.7%, as the shiny yellow metal registered a high of $1,153 U.S. in recent trade.
Silver prices were last quoted at $18.39 U.S. per ounce, up 1.6%.
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