NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks eked out gains on Thursday on the back of rising crude oil and natural gas futures, despite losses by Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell after their quarterly earnings reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 10,467, -30.72, -0.29%) dropped 31 points, putting pressure on some energy stocks The NYSE Arca Oil Index (XOI 977.78, +5.03, +0.52%) rose 0.5% to 978. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index (XNG 516.89, +0.86, +0.17%) rose 0.2% to 517. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index (OSX 182.21, +2.51, +1.40%) jumped 1.4% to 182. Crude for September delivery added $1.37, or 1.8%, to $78.36 a barrel on the New York. September natural gas futures added 11 cents, or 2.3%, to $4.83 per million British thermal units, after a government report on storage levels showed a smaller-than-anticipated increase in supplies. TODAY'S TOP MARKET STORIES S&P 500 (1 YEAR) 1,3001,2001,1001,000900 10SNFAJ • Market Snapshot: U.S. stocks in focus • Today's biggest advancing, declining stocks • Sign up for free, breaking-news email alerts EARNINGS WATCH | Earnings, updates, warnings THE MARKET BY SECTOR | Industries • Tech Stocks | Energy Stocks | Retail Stocks • Financials | Airline Stocks | Pharma and Biotech EXPANDED MARKETS NEWS • Bonds | Oil news | Gold news • Currencies | Market Data | Economic Calendar • See all the latest markets video Exxon Mobil (XOM 60.30, -0.04, -0.07%) fell 0.9% to $60.34, after it reported earnings of $1.90 a share, ahead of the consensus forecast of $1.46 a share. See: Exxon's profit jumps 91%. Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A 55.98, +0.05, +0.09%) dropped 0.6% to $21.34, after it reported a 15% jump in profit. See: Shell profit rises on production boost. Statoil (STO 20.66, -0.62, -2.91%) dipped 2.8% to $20.69 after it missed its earnings target. Among stocks in the spotlight, BP PLC (BP 38.41, -0.06, -0.16%) rose 2% to $38.47. The oil major said it's in talks with its Russian joint venture TNK-BP over the potential sale of assets in Venezuela. Constellation Energy (CEG 31.74, -0.01, -0.02%) fell 4.6% to $31.75, the day after it reported a 51% increase in second-quarter profit. On Thursday, Macquarie downgraded the company to neutral from outperform. Analysts cited margin pressure at its retail business, which sells power and other energy products to home owners and business customers. National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV 38.87, -0.01, -0.03%) said its second-quarter profit rose to $401 million, or 96 cents a share, from $220 million, or 53 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding items, earnings in the latest period would have been 97 cents a share. Quarterly revenue at the maker of oil and gas drilling and production equipment fell to $2.94 billion from $3.01 billion. Analysts, on average, expected the company to earn 93 cents a share on sales of $2.95 billion, according to FactSet Research. Shares of National Oilwell Varco rose 4% to $38.88. Williams Cos. (WMB 19.14, -0.31, -1.59%) said its second-quarter net income rose to $185 million, or 31 cents a share, from $142 million, or 24 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted net income rose to 27 cents a share, from 20 cents a share. Wall Street analysts expected earnings of 29 cents a share, according to a survey by FactSet Research. Shares of Williams dipped 1.6% to $19.14. Xcel Energy (XEL 22.36, +0.10, +0.45%) said its second-quarter net income rose by 20% to $140 million, or 30 cents a share, from $117 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The Minneapolis power company said its adjusted earnings rose to 29 cents a share, from 25 cents a share. Revenue rose to $2.3 billion, from $2 billion. Wall Street analysts expected earnings of 28 cents a share and revenue of $2.2 billion. Xcel Energy said it realized higher electric margins as a result of higher electric rates in Colorado, favorable weather and increased electric sales. The higher electric margin was partially offset by expected increases in operating and maintenance expenses. Shares of the company dropped 1.7% to $22.26. Steve Gelsi is a reporter for MarketWatch in New York.

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