Crude Oil Jumps ON Weak Dollar, Higher Equities (USO, UNG, CHK, SLB, OKS, REXX)
Crude oil rebounded on Friday following an upbeat German economic survey and strong earnings from the large cap companies in U.S.
Crude for delivery in May gained $1.58, or 1.55%, to $103.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract expires at the end of Friday. The contract has been falling over the past couple of trading sessions following weak inventory.
Commodities gained after Germany’s April Ifo index, which gauges business confidence in the euro-zone country unexpectedly rose to 109.9 in April from 109.8 in March. That contrasted with expectations of a decline to 109.5.
The ICE dollar index fell 0.50% to 79.275 from 79.563 in late North American trading Thursday.
Iran will again meet with world powers on May 23 in Baghdad in a second round of talks about its disputed nuclear program, The tensions spawned by that program between Tehran and the West had boosted oil prices to the years’ highest level, in March.
U.S. crude stocks jumped 3.9 million barrels in the week to April 13, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed, substantially exceeding analyst expectations. Over the past month, supplies have swelled nearly 22.8 million barrels, the biggest four-week build since February 2009.
May natural-gas jumped 1 cent, or 0.7%, to $1.92 per million British thermal units. May gasoline rose less than a penny, or 0.1%, to $3.15 a gallon, while May heating oil climbed 2 cents, or 0.7%, to $3.15 per gallon.
United States Oil Fund LP (ETF)(NYSEARCA:USO) was up 1.28% to $39.46 and United States Natural Gas Fund, LP(NYSEARCA:UNG)) climbed 0.63% to $14.34.
Schlumberger Limited.(NYSE:SLB) shares gained 4.48% to $72.92 after the company posted net income of $1.3 billion, or 97 cents a share, up 39% from a year ago profit of $944 million or 69 cents a share. On an adjusted basis, the company would have earned 98 cents a share, just a penny higher from analysts’ estimates. Revenue during the quarter soared 22% year-over-year $10.61 billion to $10.61 billion. But it was down 3.30% sequentially.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation(NYSE:CHK) fell 0.78% to $17.85 as shareholder files a lawsuit against CEO Aubrey McClendon, according to reports on CNBC. This morning, analyst at Wells Fargo downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform.
Oneok Partners LP(NYSE:OKS) was up 0.60% as analyst at the company plans to spend $340M-$360M to build a new natural gas infrastructure in Oklahoma’s Cana-Woodford shale region. The partnership also bumps up its quarterly cash distribution to $0.635/unit, continuing its streak of raised payouts to shareholders.
Rex Energy Corporation(NASDAQ:REXX) added 1.32% after analyst at Brean Murray upgraded the stock to Buy, citing high expectations surrounding its upcoming asset sales along with a number of other drilling catalysts coming out of its Utica and Marcellus shale plays.