Strong results from Coca-Cola (KO:59.39, -0.53, -0.9%) and healthy retail sales, boosted by the gasoline business, stoked buying in the energy patch. ExxonMobil (XOM:85.49, +1.11, +1.3%) accelerated earlier gains, rising 1.3% to $85.49 as Wall Street shrugged off a move by Venezuela to cut off oil sales to the company, except to a jointly owned refinery in Louisiana.
The Amex Oil Index (XOI:1,378.61, +25.78, +1.9%) rose nearly 2% to 1,365, with Marathon Oil (MRO:50.61, +1.26, +2.6%) , Valero (VLO:59.20, +1.51, +2.6%) , Occidental Petroleum (OXY:70.13, +1.92, +2.8%) , and ConocoPhillips (COP:78.65, +2.25, +3.0%) all up about 3%.
The Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG:582.15, +10.03, +1.8%) advanced 1.8% to 582, with Apache (APA:108.22, +3.42, +3.3%) and Southwestern (SWN:63.40, +2.43, +4.0%) each up more than 3%. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index rallied 4.2% to 273, with Smith International (SII:61.27, +3.45, +6.0%) up 6% and National Oilwell Varco (NOV:63.90, +3.08, +5.1%) up 5%.
Crude prices changed course and rose 0.5% to $93.27 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories rose less than expected, up 1.1 million barrels to 301.1 million barrels in the week ending Feb. 8, U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.
Analysts surveyed by Platts expected a rise of 3.2 million barrels. Meanwhile, world crude supplies have been growing as economies slow down, according to the latest data from the International Energy Agency.
by Steve Gelsi
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