Chesapeake Energy shares soar in Friday’s trading

Days after Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy admitted it might fail if it cannot file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company’s stock soared nearly 24% in trading on Friday.

The shares rose so quickly Friday morning that five trading halts were triggered because of volatility according to a report by Market Watch. By day’s end, Chesapeake shares added $2.08 and finished the day at $10.79 a share, an increase of 23.88%.

The soaring prices came after Chesapeake Energy’s stock had plummeted 41% over a four-day period as well as a four-day streak of record low closes.

Despite the bounce, the stock has plunged 93% year to date, while crude futures have shed 53%. Now the question is—what will happen in Monday’s trading? Will Chesapeake shares continue to go up—or fall?

On Friday, West Texas Intermediate finished up $1.87 at $29.43 for a nearly 7% increase while Brent Crude, the international benchmark closed $1.62 high on the ICE futures exchange, finishing at $32.75, for a 5% increase.

Natural gas prices dropped 4 cents and closed Friday at $1.65 per MMBtu.

Chesapeake was the big gainer in Oklahoma related oil trading while ONEOK was up $1.68 at $32.89 for a 5.4% increase.

ConocoPhillips finished up 94 cents at $40.86 while EOG Resources, on the heels of a nearly $21 million purchase of a new Oklahoma City office gained 12 cents, finishing the day at $47.68 a share.

Marathon Oil dropped 3 cents and settled at $5.61 while Phillips 66 added 8 cents to end the day at $70.93 per share. American Electric Power gained 33 cents to end the day at $78.43.