US Stocks Rose, Oil Futures Plunged

Oil prices tumbled Wednesday after concerns over tight crude supplies declined slightly amid a great increase in US inventories of crude oil.

US light crude dropped $2.47 or 4.5 per cent to $52.70 a barrel on the NYMEX.
London?s Brent dropped $2.06 to $49.50 after briefly touching a record peak at $51.94 a barrel on the IPE.

Prices slid after the US Energy Department reported that crude stocks rose 4 million barrels to 283.4 million barrels last week, narrowing a deficit against last year to 9 million barrels. The increase was about twice as large as analysts had expected.

The Energy Department said that US inventory of distillate fuel, including heating oil and diesel, fell by 2.4 million barrels to 116.6 million barrels, or 12 percent lower than a year ago.

Rising inventories of crude oil calmed traders who were concerned about winter supply.