• Oil retreated for the fourth time in five sessions as rising inventories at the key US storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, partly offset a drop in national stockpiles to paint a mixed picture for demand.
• West Texas Intermediate slipped 3.2% to settle below $72 a barrel after rising to the highest since November earlier this week. US government data showed that national crude stockpiles fell 7.1 million barrels, the biggest one-week decline since August. But inventories at Cushing held steady at the highest level since the same month.