An early rally by energy stocks on the back of generally strong earnings unraveled Wednesday as crude prices resumed their downward trek.
After rebounding at the open from the previous session's steep sell-off, the Amex Oil Index (XOI : 1,431.36, +7.98, +0.6% ) was again in the losses column, down 1% at 1,409 points.
The Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG : 505.57, -0.75, -0.1% ) followed suit, shedding 1.3% to slip back below the 500-point level, and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX : 279.76, +1.23, +0.4% ) was off 1.1% at 275.5 points.
Energy earnings rally stumbles on supply data
The market soured on the Energy Department's weekly U.S. supply data, which showed a 1.1 million-barrel drop in crude inventories but a bearish rise in gasoline inventories. Crude for September delivery, after making a run at $74 early, fell back to $73.70 a barrel, up 15 cents from Tuesday's close.
Energy earnings rally stumbles on supply data
The market soured on the Energy Department's weekly U.S. supply data, which showed a 1.1 million-barrel drop in crude inventories but a bearish rise in gasoline inventories. Crude for September delivery, after making a run at $74 early, fell back to $73.70 a barrel, up 15 cents from Tuesday's close.
ConocoPhillips (COP :83.60, +1.27, +1.5% ) was ahead 26 cents at $82.59, weathering the session better than most on its second-quarter results.
The nation's third-largest oil company, as expected, took a $4.5 billion one-time charge against earnings to cover the cost of assets left behind in Venezuela. That left the company with earnings last quarter of $301 million, or 18 cents a share, down sharply 94% from a year ago. Excluding the Venezuela charge, ConocoPhillips' earnings would have been $4.81 billion, or $2.90 a share. Analysts had been looking for $2.68 a share.
Hess Corp. (HES : 65.56, +0.93, +1.4% ) shares were up 20 cents at $64.83 for the same reason, beating Wall Street estimates in its second-quarter report. Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR :30.73, -0.82, -2.6% ) , whose after-hours report Tuesday missed analysts' expectations, was off 3% at $30.60.
