(Bloomberg) -- Oil steadied in Asia after jumping almost 3% on Wednesday as optimism the US would resolve its debt-ceiling impasse triggered broad gains in financial markets, offsetting a largely bearish US stockpile report.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Here’s How Much Wealth You Need to Join the Richest 1% Globally

• Mercedes Sets Out to Make Sexy Vans With Yacht-Like Interiors

• The $120 Million Ghost Ship Antigua Is Desperate to Unload

• JPMorgan Asset Says Markets Are Right to Bet on US Rate Cuts

West Texas Intermediate futures traded below $73 a barrel after the biggest daily advance in almost two weeks. President Joe Biden expressed confidence that negotiators would reach an agreement to avoid a catastrophic default, while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy remained hopeful of a deal.

To get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter direct into your inbox, click here.

Oil is still lower for the year as monetary tightening in the US and China’s lackluster economic growth weigh on the demand outlook, while supply has remained robust. Refining margins have been squeezed and at least one Asian processor is planning to cut operating rates from June.

US crude inventories expanded by 5 million barrels last week, the biggest gain since mid-February, according to government data Wednesday. Stockpiles at the storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, rose for a fourth week, while distillate demand fell to the lowest seasonal level in a decade, excluding in 2020.

“The oil market continues to be driven by external developments, rather than fundamentals,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy for ING Groep NV. “The market ignored a largely bearish EIA inventory report.”

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• Sweetgreen Tests Robots to Make Faster, More Efficient Sad Desk Salads

• The Green Energy Transition Has a Chilean Copper Problem

• Eric Adams Is Starving New York City’s Universal Pre-K Program

• Brew Another Pot, Robinhood’s 24-Hour Stock Trading Is Here

• Recession Calls Keep Getting Pushed Back, Giving Soft Landing Believers Hope

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.