Crude Oil Falls, Gold Ticks Lower

Most commodities were losing ground Wednesday, including crude oil, which dropped following the latest inventory numbers from the U.S. government.

Oil for May delivery was down 63 cents at $53.35 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange, and reformulated gasoline was off 2 cents at $1.49 a gallon. Heating oil was slipping 2 cents to $1.48 a gallon, and natural gas was falling 3 cents to $4.32 per million British thermal units.

Those moves came after the Energy Department said crude stores rose by more than 3 million barrels last week. Analysts were expecting an increase of less than half that. Gasoline stocks dropped by about a million barrels, and distillate inventories also decreased. ...