EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change comes in at 2.479M against -1.257M consensus

The EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change for the week ending August 5, 2026, registered an increase of 2.479M barrels. This figure significantly exceeded the consensus expectation of a -1.257M barrel decrease. The actual print represents a 297.2% surprise compared to the consensus. The previous week’s change was a decrease of -7.167M barrels.

Following the release, market reaction over the first 15 minutes showed varied movements. USDCAD moved -1.9 pips, USDCHF gained +5.3 pips, and USDJPY rose +5.5 pips. Major pairs like AUDUSD, EURUSD, GBPUSD, and NZDUSD saw declines of -0.2 pips, -1.2 pips, -4.9 pips, and -1.9 pips respectively. Gold, XAUUSD, moved +25 pips. For most pairs, these initial movements are relatively small when compared to their median 1-hour moves after past releases. For instance, EURUSD typically sees a median 1-hour move of 8 pips, while XAUUSD typically moves 22 pips.