Oil eases on growing U.S. stockpiles; U.S.-China trade deal hopes check losses - Reuters

Oil eases on growing U.S. stockpiles; U.S.-China trade deal hopes check losses - Reuters:

Oil slipped on Wednesday after an industry report showed a surprise build-up in U.S. crude inventories, but optimism surrounding the signing of the first phase of a U.S.-China trade deal prevented a bigger slide in prices.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 dropped 9 cents, or 0.14%, to $64.18 a barrel by 0725 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 fell 12 cents, or 0.21%, to $58.29 per barrel.

Wednesday’s decline reversed two days of gains, with WTI climbing 1.1% through Tuesday and Brent gaining 1.4% during the period, on the expectation that China and the United States, the world’s two biggest crude oil users, would soon sign a preliminary agreement beginning an end to their 16-month trade war.