Last night’s agreement on a fiscal cliff deal is lifting the commodities markets this morning, especially for crude oil. Traders are reacting to the now-lessened chance of a global recession led by severe cutbacks in U.S. spending. The fiscal cliff deal that will go to President Obama today for his signature raises taxes, but does little to cut spending.
WTI crude oil is up more than 1.7% at $93.40, while Brent crude is up about 1.3% at $112.53. Big oil producers are getting a pre-open boost as well, with Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) up 2%, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) up 1.7%, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) up 2.3% and BP PLC (NYSE: BP) up 1.5%.
Refiners are joining the party as well. Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is up 2.4%, Philllips 66 (NYSE: PSX) is up 2.1%, Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) is up 2.4% and Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) is up 2.8%.
Services firms like Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI), Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) are all up about 2%, and drilling firms Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) and Seadrill Ltd. (NYSE: SDRL) are also up more than 2%.
Natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) is up about 2% even though natural gas is trading down about 0.7% at $3.33 per thousand cubic feet.
Paul Ausick
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks