Oil ETFs (USO) (XLE) (BNO) Jumping on Lower Gas Inventory

Shares of oil ETFs U.S. Oil Fund (NYSE:USO), Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLE) and U.S. Brent Oil Fund (NYSE:BNO) were up today after a report from the Energy Information Administration saying gas inventory was up less than expected and oil inventory was flat.

Light, sweet crude West Texas Intermediate oil for June delivery is soaring $3.61 to $100.52 a barrel on the Nymex.

Brent crude July contracts are up $2.74 to $112.73 a barrel.

This could be an indicator that refinery demand could possibly be on the rebound.

MF Global wrote in a note to clients, “We think oil prices will continue to erode and we still think $90 is a reasonable short-term target on WTI, although short-term, we are getting a tad oversold and may be in for a bounce here.”

U.S. Brent Oil Fund (BNO) was trading at $75.21, gaining $1.79, or 2.44 percent, as of 2:06 PM EDT. Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) was at $74.98, up $1.75, or 2.39 percent. The U.S. Oil Fund (USO) was trading at $39.88, surging $1.33, or 3.45 percent.

PIMCO’s Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund (PCRIX), iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV), U.S. Oil Fund (NYSE:USO) Attract Large Investments

According to Lipper data, the amount of money invested in commodity funds exploded in November, led by PIMCO’s Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund (PCRIX) and iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV), with the U.S. Oil Fund (NYSE:USO) garnering significant inflows.

Overall, U.S. commodities mutual funds added another $3.1 billion to bring the total net assets in the funds to $134 billion in November. That's the highest levels since Lipper started tracking the segment, which they started to do in August 2010.

The leading fund was the Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund, with iShares coming behind them in second.

The net asset value of PIMCO’s Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund was $8.93, down $0.04, or 0.45 percent, as of December 15.

iShares was trading at $28.16, down $0.08, or 0.28 percent, as of 12:48 PM EST. The United States oil fund was trading at $37.98, down $0.01, 0.03 percent.