Oil's Losing Streak Now At 6 Days

New York, May 9th (TradersHuddle.com) - It's starting to sound like a broken, but that is the unfortunate reality for oil bulls. Oil fell for the sixth consecutive day as traders continued to fret about Europe's sovereign debt crisis. NYMEX-traded crude lost 20 cents, or 0.2%, to close at $96.81 a barrel. The benchmark U.S. contract has lost more than 10% in the past six trading sessions. It was another good day for the U.S. dollar against its major counterparts as the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSE: UUP) gained 0.4%. The six-day losing streak is the longest for oil since 2010. Inventory data didn't help matters either as the Energy Department said U.S. oil stockpiles climbed by 3.65 million barrels to 379.5 million barrels last week. That's the highest level in almost 22 years. Analysts expected an increase of just 2 million barrels. Rising supply implies waning demand and that could imply economic growth here in the U.S., the world's largest oil buyer, isn't quite where it should be.

In London, Brent for June delivery rose 47 cents to $113.20 a barrel. Speaking of goings on across the Atlantic, hopes are all but lost for a coalition government in Greece and that country's new leader, Alexis Tsipras, is anti-bailou. That posture is seen as all but ensuring that Greece will depart the Euro Zone. It has also been speculated that Greece could lose its developed markets status.

Greece was the starting point for Europe's sovereign debt contagion. Unfortunately, it was not the end point. Spain, the "S" in the now infamous PIIGS acronym and the fourth-largest Euro Zone economy is now viewed as so weak fiscally speaking that traders are not shy about saying it could be the next country to depart the Euro Zone after Greece. None of that would be encouraging in the near-term for oil.

The Energy Department reduced its 2012 price projection for crude oil as supply is forecast to expand faster than fuel consumption. Oil in New York will average $104.12 a barrel this year, down 1.5 percent from the April forecast of $105.72, the department's Energy Information Administration said, Bloomberg reported.

Another rough day of action in the oil pits coupled with another bad day for equities hit oil stocks once again. Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) each fell by nearly 1%. Global oil stocks were even worse. BP (NYSE: BP) plunged almost 3% while Brazil's Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) slid 1.4%. Petrobras has plunged 13% in the past month and the chart indicates the stock could set a new 52-week low any day now.