WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices declined sharply on Wednesday, snapping a three-day winning streak, after data showed a climb in U.S. crude stockpiles in the week ended November 5.
The dollar's strength after data showing an acceleration in U.S. consumer price inflation weighed as well on crude oil prices.
The dollar index rose to 94.84, up nearly 1%.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down by $2.81 or about 3.3% at $81.34 a barrel.
Brent crude futures were down $2.45 or 2.88% at $82.33 a barrel.
Data released by U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories in the country rose by 1 million barrels last week.
The data showed gasoline stockpiles dropped by 1.6 million barrels in the week, in line with analyst expectations, while distillate stocks declined by 2.6 million barrels as against expectations for a 1.1 million barrels drop.
The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies declined by 2.5 million barrels for the week to Nov. 5, defying analysts' estimates for a 2.1 build in crude stocks.
The report also showed inventory declines of 4.5 million barrels for gasoline and 3.3 million barrels for distillate stockpiles.
Data released by the Labor Department showed the consumer price index jumped by 0.9% in October after rising by 0.4% in September. Economists had expected consumer prices to climb by 0.6%.
The data also said the annual rate of growth in consumer prices accelerated to 6.2% in October from 5.4% in September, reaching the highest level since November of 1990.
The annual rate of growth in core prices also accelerated to 4.6% from 4%, reflecting the biggest jump in prices since August of 1991.
The acceleration in the rate of consumer price inflation has raised concerns about the outlook for interest rates even though the Federal Reserve has signaled it will not be in a hurry to begin raising rates.
Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims edged down to 267,000 in the week ended November 6th, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level of 271,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 265,000 from the 269,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Jobless claims decreased for the sixth consecutive week, once again falling to their lowest level since hitting 256,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020.
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