Oil futures rose to a new record Wednesday, then seesawed after the Energy Department offered a mixed picture of the United States' petroleum stockpiles, according to AP. The department's Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report that gasoline demand rose slightly last week while stocks of distillate fuels fell unexpectedly. However, the EIA also said crude inventories rose much more than analysts predicted, and gasoline supplies increased when analysts forecast a decline. The result was a market that waffled as traders were torn between relief that oil and gasoline supplies are rising and worries about rising demand and falling distillate stockpiles. In the minutes after the report was released, light, sweet crude for June delivery fell by more than a dollar, then shot to a new trading record of $122.81 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In later trading, futures fell 27 cents to $121.57 a barrel. «It shows you that this market ... at times just ignores bearish news,» said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. Flynn said gasoline demand should be rising much faster this time of year, and argued that the energy market should be more focused on rising crude and gasoline supplies. Oil prices have risen in recent months on a mixture of concerns about supply disruptions in Nigeria and the Middle East amid growing demand in fast-growing nations such as China and India. But the dollar's protracted decline against the euro and other foreign currencies has also played a major role in oil's rise by attracting investors looking for a hedge against inflation. The dollar gained ground Wednesday.
