Energy stocks continued moving into the red on Monday as oil prices and a disappointing profit report from Spectra Energy weighed on the sector.
Oil retreated $2.40 to $73.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The Amex Oil Index (XOI :1,280.27, -15.19, -1.2% ) fell 0.4%. The Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG :477.38, -9.57, -2.0% ) gave up 1.7%.
The CBOE Oil Index (OIX : 707.06, -9.49, -1.3% ) declined 0.4%. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX : 248.52, -5.71, -2.2% ) fell 2.4%. Spectra Energy (SE :23.87, -0.91, -3.7% ) , a natural gas delivery firm spun off from Duke Energy, fell 4% to $22.78 after reporting a drop of 39% in second-quarter profit, partially attributed to plant outages in Canada.
Big movers in the energy sector included Marathon Oil (MRO :47.75, -2.06, -4.1% ) , down 4%, Murphy Oil (MUR :57.63, -1.20, -2.0% ) , down 1.8% and Frontier Oil (FTO : 33.96, -1.05, -3.0% ) , down 2.7%. Oppenheimer cut its rating on all three stocks to neutral from buy.
Constellation Energy Partners (CEP : 42.50, -4.10, -8.8% ) , down 17% . A spokesman from Constellation Energy Partners did not return a phone call seeking comment. Wachovia Analyst Yves Siegel said in an email to MarketWatch that the stock is down amid broad-based selling in the MLP group. Volume on the stock was relatively light, with about 51,000 shares trading hands. "It's a technical sell-off," Siegel said.
Constellation Energy Group (CEG : 82.78, +0.28, +0.3% ) rose 60 cents to $83.10.
Among oil service firms, Transocean (RIG :96.53, -3.53, -3.5% ) fell 3% and National Oilwell (NOV :106.03, -3.76, -3.4% ) gave up 3.3%.
Via: MarketWatch
by Steve Gelsi
by Steve Gelsi
