Oil ends higher in Monday’s trading

 

Optimistic remarks about worldwide crude demand from  Saudi Aramco’s CEO plus news that Iraq intends to cut production gave oil futures a shot in the army in Monday’s trading as futures ended the day higher.

West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose 72 cents or 1.8% to settle at $41.94 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. October Brent crude, the global benchmark rose 59 cents or 1.3% on ICE Futures Europe, finishing at $44.99 a barrel.

Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser over the weekend said there had been a “partial recovery” in demand, and lauded a strong rebound in crude appetite in major markets, including what he described as a return to nearly pre-COVID-19 levels of demand for gasoline and diesel fuel in China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, news reports said. The majority state-owned company’s net income plunged by 50% in the first half of the year.

“The rosy demand outlook, combined with Iraq saying it will cut production by a further 40,000 barrels a day to compensate overproduction over the past three months are overshadowing the stimulus deadlock in Washington, at least for now,” said Fiona Cincotta, analyst at City Index, in a note to MarketWatch.

After the White House and Democratic lawmakers failed last week to come to an agreement on a new round of coronavirus aid, Trump on Saturday signed executive orders to pause the collection of payroll taxes, provide help on rent, assist with student-loan payments and extend a portion of additional unemployment benefits that had lapsed at the end of last month.

Meanwhile, China’s consumer-price index in July rose 2.7% from a year earlier, compared with June’s 2.5% increase, as recent pork price increases and floods in southern China drove up food prices. The rise was in line with forecasts. Producer prices dropped 2.4% in July from a year earlier, after a 3% decline in June, the National Bureau of Statistics. Economists polled The Wall Street Journal had predicted the gauge of industrial prices would drop 2.6%.

In other energy trading, September gasoline  gained 2.17 cents, or 1.8%, to finish at $1.2293 a gallon, while September heating oil rose 1.7 cents, or 1.4%, ending at $1.2369 a gallon.

Natural gas for September delivery dropped 8.5 cents, or 3.8%, to settle at $2.1530 per million British thermal units.

Prices also finished up for some Oklahoma-related stocks including Devon Energy which rose 53 cents or 4.38% to $12.64 a share.

Ovintiv finished 5.56% or 85 cents higher and closed the day at $16.14 a share. SandRidge Energy ended the day 2.94% or 50 cents higher and closed at $1.75.

Mammoth Energy Services was up 8.33% or 13 cents, finishing at $1.69. NGL Energy Partners LP  rose 32 cents or 6.90% and ended at $4.96 per share.

Continental Resources, Inc. ended the day 7.69% or $1.32 higher at $18.49 per share.

ConocoPhillips (COP) up 1.34 at 39.64 – change 3.49%

Diamondback Energy (FANG) up 2.66 at 44.67 – change 6.33%

Energy Transfer LP (ET) up 0.08 at 6.51 – change 1.24%

EOG Resources (EOG) up 1.65 at 50.46 – change 3.38%

ExxonMobil (XOM) up 1.07 at 44.51 – change 2.46%

Kinder Morgan (KMI) up 0.22 at 14.54 – change 1.53%

Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) up 0.30 at 6.04 – change 5.22%

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) up 0.43 at 12.42 – change 3.58%

Noble Energy (NBL) up 0.42 at 10.69 – change 4.08%

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) up 1.03 at 16.48 – change 6.66%

ONEOK (OKE) up 0.75 at 30.22 – change 2.54%

Phillips 66 (PSX) up 2.00 at 64.87 – change 3.18%

Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) up 4.71 at 108.99 – change 4.51%

Valero (VLO) up 0.89 at 53.55 – change 1.69%.

CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS

American Electric Power (AEP) down 0.66 at 86.94 – change 0.77%

Source: MarketWatch