Crude futures climbed back from their biggest drop of the year on Thursday, giving a lift to stocks in the sector.
Nymex-traded crude was recently up 1.1% to $89.28, reversing a drop of more than 4% on Thursday. Brent crude was up even more early on Thursday. Wednesday’s drop appears to have been caused by concerns about demand, because supply data from the U.S. government actually showed crude stocks fell last week.
Thursday’s rise may simply be a reaction to the severity of Wednesday’s plunge — with no clear catalyst, traders may be betting that futures have fallen too hard. Other factors may also be at play: Turkey fired on targets in Syria, escalating tensions in the region. And economic news out of the U.S. was somewhat positive, as jobless claims stayed relatively low.
Oil services names like Halliburton (HAL) and Schlumberger (SLB) were trading higher, as were refiners like Valero (VLO), Tesoro (TSO), and Western Refining (WNR).
Chevron (CVX) and other U.S.-based multinational integrated oil companies were also trading higher, although BP (BP) and other European companies were trading slightly lower.
