The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed today that the US crude inventories rose by 0.5 million barrels to reach a total of 443.3 million barrels during past week, lower than forecasts of 2.8 million.

The gasoline stockpiles fell 2.7 million barrels to a total of 256.4 million, and distillate stockpiles declined by 2.1 million barrels to a total of 138.5 million.

While the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed yesterday in preliminary data that inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels during same period.

Palladium futures fell on Wednesday, amid the growing fears over the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on global demand.

The coronavirus infections and deaths continued to increase in multiple countries, led by China, South Korea, Italy and Japan.

While the new cases of the virus emerged in Austria, Switzerland, Kuwait and Bahrain, which escalated fears of the virus turning into a global pandemic.

The World Health Organization advised not to use the word "pandemic", as it does not fit the facts, which may otherwise cause fear among people.

Despite lots of cars factories returning to work in China, which means higher demand for the metal that is heavily used in the manufacturing of car components to reduce pollutant emissions, but fears over the failure in containing the virus outbreak still weigh down on prices.

Palladium March futures fell 0.2% to trade at $2,654.9 an ounce as of 14:21 GMT, after hitting a high of $2,683.8 and a low of $2,616.

The main US stocks indices rose at the opening of today's sessions, to recoup some of yesterday's sharp losses, despite the growing fears over the coronavirus.

The Dow Jones index lost 1031 points on Monday, and also dropped 880 points yesterday, with Nasdaq falling off the 9,000 barrier.

This came as the coronavirus infections continued to increase in countries such as Italy, Japan, France, Switzerland, Austria, Bahrain and Kuwait..

China revealed that the virus death toll increased, and continued to infect more cases, which forced many major companies to lower their estimates for their business performance during the first quarter.

Dow Jones rose 1% or 270 points to trade at 27,350 as of 14:54 GMT, Nasdaq added 1.3% or 115 points to 9,081, and S&P 500 rose 1.3% or 40 points to 3,168.

Oil prices fell in European trade today, to head for the fifth daily loss and dive to a 13-month low, due to lingering fears over the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the global economy, in addition to a rise in US crude inventories, as the US continued to oversupply the market, marking its place as the world's largest oil producer.

US crude fell to the lowest price since Feb. 10, 2019 at $49.47 a barrel, after opening at $50.08, and hit a high of $50.41, and Brent crude fell to  the lowest price since Feb. 12 at $54.25 a barrel, after opening at $55.02, with a high of $55.42.

The US crude lost 2.4% yesterday, and Brent futures lost 2.1%, to post the fourth daily loss after the US warnings about the spread of the coronavirus.

This came after the rapid coronavirus spread beyond China, especially  in South Korea, Italy and Iran, as the virus death toll in Iran rose to 16 victims, which is the highest after China.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged citizens to prepare for a potential coronavirus outbreak in the US, especially after infections increased in more countries.

Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the IEA, said yesterday that the agency has cut it global oil demand outlook to ten-year low, adding that further cuts are possible due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed yesterday in preliminary data the US crude inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels during the week ending in Feb. 21, lower than forecasts of 2 million barrels, and reached a total of 443.9 million barrels, which is the highest level since Dec. 13.

While the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release today the official data on inventories and production levels in its weekly report, with forecasts for inventories to rise by 2.3 million barrels.