Futures added 0.3 percent in New York after dropping 0.8 percent the previous two sessions. U.S. inventories slid by 7.8 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report Tuesday, while a Bloomberg survey also forecast a decline. The Energy Information Administration marginally boosted its estimates for American production in 2017 and 2018. “The recovery this morning is most likely in anticipation of a sixth inventory decline in crude oil this afternoon” when the EIA releases its weekly stockpiles report, said Ole Sloth Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen. Gains will be capped by a stronger dollar, he said. Click Read More below for additional detail.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 1.7% in April after decreasing 2.8% in March. In April, the index equaled 112.7 (2015=100) compared with 114.7 in March. “While the broader economy continues to surprise and thus far stave off an expected recession, the freight economy is starkly different,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “The goods-portion of the economy is soft and as a result, even contract truck freight is now falling, albeit not nearly as much as the spot market. The tonnage index hit the lowest level since September 2021 in April and has now fallen on a year-over-year basis for two straight months.” March’s decline was revised up from our April 18 press release. Compared with April 2022, the SA index decreased 3.4%, which was the largest year-over-year decrease since February 2021. In March, the index was down 2.4% from a year earlier.