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Oil prices held gains (WTI above $40) despite Trump spoiling the Pelosi-bailout party.

“The petroleum complex desperately needed that stimulus to come through so that the economy could perk back up and refined-product demand could hopefully rebound,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC. “This is a big hit to that.”

Still, oil prices are keeping some strength with U.S. Gulf operators shutting 29% of oil output in the region ahead of Hurricane Delta (unlikely to affect this week’s data).

API

• Crude +951k (-2mm exp)

• Cushing +749k

• Gasoline -867k (-800k exp)

• Distillates -1.033mm (-2.9mm exp)

After three weeks of draws, API reports a crude build (unexpectedly rising 951k barrels vs -2mm exp) and a smaller than expected product draw…

Source: Bloomberg

WTI hovered just above $40, having bounced off that level after plunging on Trump’s tweet, and slipped back below that key level…

Finally, as Bloomberg notes, oil may not be out of the woods yet. In recent days, there have been a flurry of options trades that would profit a buyer from lower prices.