U.S. crude-oil futures bounced back Wednesday, rebounding from a five-year low after data showed crude inventories declined, although less than forecast. Crude futures for delivery in January settled higher by 54 cents, or 1%, at $56.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil had traded as low as $54.21 in earlier action Wednesday, its lowest level since May 2009, then jumped by as much as 5% to nearly $59 before giving back most of that gain. Oil rebounded after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a smaller-than-expected decline in U.S. crude supplies in the week ended Dec. 12. The data stoked buying interest after the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday showed a rise in crude inventories, Robert Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho Securities, told Market Watch. Meanwhile, February Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $1.17, or 1.9%, to $61.18 a barrel after it also plumbed a five-year low in earlier action.

Crude inventories declined by 800,000 barrels in the week ended Dec. 12, the EIA said Wednesday. Analysts polled by Platts had expected a decline of 2.5 million barrels. Strategists said sellers appeared exhausted after a sharp plunge in crude accelerated this week. Darin Newsom, a commodities analyst with Telvent, said he hadn’t seen news headlines or a significant change in fundamentals to explain the sudden jump in oil prices. That has led him to believe it was likely due to a flood of new buy orders once both benchmarks tested lows earlier in the week. “It’s what I call a vacuum market,” where sell orders were few because of the recent low prices and the buy orders, some of them likely automated, are capable of pushing prices up rapidly. “We ran out of selling … computers were triggered, prices shot up.”

Both benchmarks have declined 50% from a June peak as supply has outweighed tepid demand growth. Yawger said the small decline in EIA crude inventories and a rise in stocks held at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for Nymex futures, were among factors that raise questions about the durability of the rebound. In electronic trading late Wednesday, the U.S. oil benchmark stayed moderately higher — up 0.3% at last check — in the wake of what some analysts described as a more-dovish-than-anticipated Federal Reserve statement. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen also sounded “fairly dovish” in a post-statement press conference, MarketWatch reported on its live blog for the event.

The decline in oil prices is a net positive for the U.S. economy, Yellen said. Movements in oil prices tend to have temporary effects on the inflation outlook, the Fed chief added.