Chevron Corp. rose as the oil giant was selected to rejoin the ranks of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and crude jumped on a threat by Venezuela to cut off oil exports to the U.S. on Monday.
Natural gas stocks and oil services share rallied as the energy sector caught Wall Street's attention. As Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attempted to retaliate against ExxonMobil Corp.'s legal action to freeze $12 billion in his country's assets, oil futures rose $1.82, or 2%, to close at $93.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Chevron (CVX:80.43, +1.17, +1.5%) rose 1.5% to close at $80.43, ahead of its move to join ExxonMobil (XOM:83.22, +1.51, +1.9%) on Feb. 19 as the second energy company trading on the Dow.
Chevron was bumped from the Dow back in 1999 after a long stint dating back to 1930. In 1924 and 25 the company traded under the name Standard Oil Co. of California. Chevron officials could not be reached for comment. The Amex Oil Index (XOI:1,349.99, +18.79, +1.4%) advanced 1.4% to 1,350. Anadarko Petroleum (APC:58.74, +2.28, +4.0%) rallied 4% to $58.74 as the lading gainer from the group.
The Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG:574.71, +18.40, +3.3%) jumped 3.3% to 575 as a cold snap in the Northeast suggested higher short-term demand. Southwestern Energy (SWN:61.87, +3.80, +6.5%) and Chesapeake Energy (CHK:41.15, +2.51, +6.5%) each rose about 6.5%.
The Philadelphia Oil Service Index rose 3.5% to 264. BJ Services (BJS:23.52, +1.45, +6.6%) rallied 6.6% and Weatherford (WFT:64.55, +3.32, +5.4%) rose about 5.4%.
Among movers, ExxonMobil (XOM:83.22, +1.51, +1.9%) rose $1.51 to $83.2. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to cut off oil shipments to the United States if a court ruling goes forward ordering approximately $12 billion in Venezuelan assets frozen.
According to the Department of Energy, the United States is Venezuela's largest customer, importing about 1.4 million barrels of oil a day, noted Brian Niemiec of Susquehanna Financial.
"The move could potentially do more damage to the reputation of Venezuela and make more companies, or countries, wary of doing business with the oil rich nation," Niemiec said.
Plains All American Pipeline LP (50.99, +0.40, +0.8%) rose 40 cents to $50.99 after it said it's withdrawing a $400 million initial public offering for Plains GP Holdings L.P. The company said market conditions "have substantially deteriorated" since the IPO process began in August.By Steve Gelsi
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