Why Oil and Gas Stocks Rallied Today, and Why It Might Continue
Shares of oil and gas producers Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) and Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) and services provider Core Laboratories (NYSE: CLB) were beating the market on Friday, up 5.5%, 4.1%, and 12.2%, respectively.
Like many economically sensitive stocks, oil and gas shares are benefiting from the market's overall reaction to Thursday's milder-than-expected inflation report. But oil stocks might be making particularly big moves, since large upcoming events could send oil prices higher again.
Oil prices have fallen a good amount from their heights above $120 per barrel in June, but were on the rise again today, up nearly 3%. Certainly, Thursday's inflation report was encouraging, as October's Consumer Price Index (CPI) data came in lower than expected. That spurred hope that the Federal Reserve might not have to raise interest rates as fast or as far as thought. And if the Fed doesn't have to hike rates so high, that lessens the probability of it going too far and causing a recession.
Source Fool.com
