U.S. oil stockpile is at a three-decade low

Between the lines: The release of oil reserves won’t mathematically solve the problem of lost supply, but it will psychologically keep investors from bidding crude oil prices higher, Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert, wrote in a note Wednesday.

• “The signaling effect can stabilize prices temporarily, even if the physical math doesn’t work.” 
• “Think of it as the energy equivalent of Mario Draghi’s famous ‘whateveru it takes’ moment during the European debt crisis,” Malek wrote. “The credible threat of coordinated action is doing more heavy lifting than the actual barrels ever could.”