After languishing at the open, energy stocks staged a mid-morning turnaround, with investors drawing inspiration from a new all-time intraday high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and an upward move by crude-oil futures.
At last glance, the Amex Oil Index (XOI :1,303.44, +1.67, +0.1% ) was up 0.3%, shaking off a lower start, while the Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG :496.08, -2.35, -0.5% ) was ahead 0.2% and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX :242.97, +1.21, +0.5% ) was up 0.7%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI :13,387.90, +41.12, +0.3% ) was helping pull the sector higher, up 92 points at 13,441, as the April consumer prices showed less inflationary pressures on the economy than feared. See Market Snapshot.
At the same time, the June crude-oil futures contract in New York broke out of its narrow trading range, adding 26 cents to trade at $62.72 a barrel on the conviction that the tame April inflation numbers indicate consumers will still have enough money in their pockets to continue spending on gasoline.
News that protestors have triggered further production disruptions in Nigeria also intensified concerns over supplies. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA : 70.36, -0.14, -0.2% ) confirmed Tuesday that attacks on its oil field operations have cut nearly 140,000 barrels a day of benchmark Bonny Light crude-oil.
Just last week, Chevron Corp. (CVX : 80.98, +0.11, +0.1% ) said it was pulling non-essential personnel from some of its Nigerian offshore field operations due to violence, a move that is costing about 42,000 barrels a day in deferred production. Gasoline futures responded with nearly a 2-cent gain to $2.321 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. See Futures Movers.
The next key set of data for the sector arrives Wednesday, when the Energy Information Administration reports on U.S. oil and fuel inventories for the week ended May 11. With gasoline supplies unusually low, traders will be looking for signs the nation's refiners are putting units back in operation after spring maintenance.
