The fundamentals, at least those in the US, don’t matter (US oil consumption down a million barrels a day) as oil prices continued ever upwards, this time to $124 or so. WSJ:

oil has maintained its upward momentum in the face of sharply diminished U.S. demand, which fell in February to 19.7 million barrels a day. That was down a million barrels a day from the 2007 average.

And yet another WSJ report, showing outsized oil inventory increases that the market quickly ignored:

EIA’s latest data show that oil inventories rose by 5.7 million barrels last week more than four times the average analyst forecast of a 1.4 million barrel rise in stockpiles, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Gasoline stockpiles also jumped by 800,000 barrels compared with expectations for a 400,000 barrel draw, while refinery usage fell 0.4 percentage point to 85%, rather than rising by 0.4 percentage points as forecast. Some analysts believe that weak readings of refinery usage may be a sign that operators are feeling pinched by the high price of crude, which they purchase as a raw material, and shaky demand for gasoline, which they sell to recoup their costs.

Who cares? It’s party time! — for some.

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