Oil Futures Trading Plummets: Investors Ditching Oil Stocks

"Concerns over the strength of the global recovery, combined with a stronger dollar, have placed downward pressure on oil," according to analysts at Action Economics. Crude Oil Futures continue to plummet, today falling below $72 a barrel. The cause, mounting worry and concern about the global recovery pace.

In morning trading, The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 100 points. While broader Indexes also saw a decline of over 1 percent. Investors are ditching oil stocks and going back into the safety of the Treasury bond market. The looming concern is that because of the slow recovery, which could push the economy back into a recession.

The Dow Jones slid 103.83 or 1 percent to 10,074.06. While The Standard and Poor 500 Index also declined to 11.60 or 1.1. percent to 1,055.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 25.52 or 1.2 percent bringing it to 1,786.79. For every one stock that rose on the New York Stock exchange, 10 fell.

Phil Flynn, PFG Best analyst said, "Just when it seems oil is going to rally on strong economic optimism, it gets crushed with the realty of gluttonous supply. When it gets ready to fall apart, like in the emergence of the latest chapter in the economic crisis, some central bank supports it with a flood of printed money."

Oil Stock Prices and Crude Oil Futures Soar: BP (NYSE:BP)

Energy stock prices have reached their highest level in two months and BP (NYSE:BP) shares soar. Crude oil futures have jumped to over $80 a barrel. After months of waiting, wondering, and anticipating a turn around in the stock market, maybe we are now headed in that direction.

The biggest increase was seen in the Philadelphia Oil Service Index gaining 2.4 percent to 186. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index increased by 1.8 percent to 525. While the NYSE Arca Oil Index broke through the four digit level rising 2.2 percent to 1,002. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 135 points.

BP shares inclined 2 percent to $39.29. Chevron and Exxon also saw gains. Chevron rose 2.9 percent to $77.84 and Exxon increased by 2.66 percent reaching $61.26.

BP (NYSE:BP) Oil Shares Plummet in Trading

Beginning the session in the negative column, oil shares started moving up as the energy sector gained strength from Weatherford's comments and higher crude oil prices but BP (NYSE:BP) plummeted. Oil rose 1 percent or 75 cents to $77.65 a barrel, while early in the morning it was trading down 1 percent reaching a low for the day of $76.05.

The New York Stock Exchange Arca Natural Gas Index gained 0.3 percent to 501. While The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 87 points or almost 0.9 percent. The NYSE Arca Oil Index declined 0.3 percent to 940. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index saw an increase of 1.5 percent to $178.34.

Exxon Mobil was down 0.5 percent to $58.13 and Chevron by 0.6 percent to $71.54. While BP shares took a nose dive to $34.87 losing 2.5 percent. The pressure in BP's well continues to slowly rise, it has now reached 6,825. They have not re-started drilling the relief well and are currently going over all possible options.

BP (NYSE:BP): Share Prices, Oil Futures, Energy Stocks

Based on the optimism that Apache Corporation may purchase about $12 billion of BP's (NYSE:BP) assets, BP's shares saw another incline. BP's reasoning for this possible sale is to help raise $10 billion to help cover the cost from the devastating explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

BP saw a 5.6 percent increase to $35.96, continuing last weeks surge of 13 percent. Even though it's reported that the BP bill has reached over $3.5 billion. This lift in stock prices has helped raise energy stocks across the board. Anadarko rose 2 percent to $46.43. In an emailed statement to Dow Jones Wires, John Christiansen, Anadarko's spokesman said, " We have notified BP that we are withholding reimbursements to BP at this time."

While Apache Corporation declined 2.2 percent to $85.95. An analysts from Tudor Pickering Holt said that if Apache were to continue ahead with their possible move, it would prove their track record of purchasing mature assets and wringing the profits from them. " APA made their company buying mature assets from majors and making them work stronger/harder/longer. So it shouldn't surprise if they are hunting BP's Prudhoe assets, as reported in various newspapers over the weekend," said the analyst from Tudor Pickering Holt.

The New York Stock Exchange Arca Oil Index rose 0.7 percent to 952. While The Philadelphia Oil Service Index increased 0.6 percent to 179. The New York Stock Exchange Arca Natural Gas Index inclined 0.3 percent to 511.

BP (NYSE:BP): We're Not Issuing Any New Shares

Despite the pressure BP (NYSE:BP) is feeling financially, they are saying there will be no more newly issued shares. Although they have been making overtures to several oil investors in different countries where there is good relations. In an attempt to entice them to purchase shares.

Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya's national oil company told Dow Jones, "BP is interesting now with the price lower by half and I still have trust in BP, I will recommend it to the Libyan Investment Authority." On Monday, a top Libya oil official said his country should take advantage of the oil company's falling share prices.

BP insists they are not trying to bring in specific investors with new equity. BP shares have lost over half their market value since the Gulf oil spill began in April. Today they saw an increase of 3.5 percent to 333.3p in London.

The Gulf of Mexico holds some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. They've previously put capital into into Western banks including Barclays and Citigroup. BP has an extensive history
with the UAE, home to numerous government controlled funds that invest specifically in energy assets.

Stock Prices, Crude Oil Futures: Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), Exxon (NYSE:XOM),

Stock prices in energy see a dramatic decline in Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), and Exxon (NYSE:XOM). This drop was seen after the White House stated they planned to immediately appeal a decision made by a judge in Louisiana to stop the moratorium banning any new drilling for six months.

Exxon Mobil dropped 1.9 percent to 61.94. While Chevron seen a decline of 2.3 percent taking them to 74. Then there Halliburton which slid 3.9 percent to 25.99.

Ben Halliburton, chief investment officer at Tradition Capital Management said, "it's a big negative for the industry if the moratorium is not lifted. Clearly, the companies impacted are going to have negative revisions on their earnings and their cash flows if they're involved in the deepwater Gulf."

The Nasdaq dropped 1.19 percent to 2261.80. While the Standard and Poors 500 saw a decline of 1.61 percent to 1095.31. All sectors of the S&P ended in the red lead by energy. The Dow Jones fell 1.43 percent to 10293.52, there largest one day loss since June 4th.

Stock Prices, Crude Oil Futures: Exxon (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX)

There was a jump in U.S. stock prices in crude oil futures, including Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX), this is the biggest gain the S&P 500 has seen since March.

Exxon Mobil as well as Chevron both saw a significant rise. Exxon, the largest U.S. energy company, saw a 0.5 percent rise to $62.17 pushing crude oil to over $75 a barrel in New York. Chevron, the second largest U.S. energy company rose 0.4 percent to $74.33. The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent to 1,099.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also saw an incline of 0.7 percent, or 74.37 points bringing it to 10,285.44. While the Nasdaq rose 18.44 points or 0.8 percent to 2,262.04.

David Katz, chief investment officer at Matrix Asset Advisors Incorporated in New York, stated, "the recent sell off was based on fear, but the U.S. economy is very much intact and it seems like the European economies are muddling through. On days when there are no concerns or fear mongering, the market should get a bounce like we saw last week and it continues today."

The New York Stock Exchange Arca Oil Index was gaining 1.1 percent and the Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index adding 1 percent.

Current Stock Prices Dropping: Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX)

As we've watched many of the oil companies stock drop, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) are also seeing current stock prices dropping today. The oil and gas industry as a whole is in a downtrend.

Exxon has seen a decline of 0.6 percent bringing it to $61.32. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is also down 31 points or 0.3 percent lower to 10,141. This downward trend is seen on the S&P 500 as well, losing 0.3 percent to 1,079. Seeing an increase is the Nasdaq Composite Index of 0.2 percent.

Crude oil futures fell below $74.00 a barrel causing a decline in energy stocks, as well as the Exxon decline Chevron also dropped 1 percent.

"People are seeing that the economy isn't booming, but it's also not getting worse," said Malcom Polly, chief investment officer at Stewart Capital Advisors. "That's why the confidence numbers are getting a little better. But actual spending still isn't strong enough where we can say that we'll get a traditional consumer led recovery."

BP (NYSE:BP) Bankruptcy and Stock Trading

Many are concerned that BP (NYSE:BP) will file for bankruptcy and that their stock trading will continue to fall. Even though BP seems to have a we can handle it all attitude, they will eventually run out of money. With them putting out such large amounts for things like television ads to the tune of $50 million dollars, it makes you wonder how they are planning to continue on at this pace financially. Not to mention, they haven't even been successful in their fuel spill containment efforts or even scratched the surface of beginning to clean up this catastrophe.

There is also much speculation that BP is getting ready to cut their dividends in order to be able to pay for the Gulf oil cleanup. This sent BP shares plummeting below 400 pence today. At the end of the day trading, BP was down 4.2 percent at 391.5 pence. Before the hazardous spill BP was at 648 pence.

"Consumer borrowing unexpectedly rose in April but fell in March, suggesting Americans aren't too comfortable with their finances despite the economic recovery. The Federal Reserve on Monday said consumer credit outstanding increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.5 % up $954.8 million to 2,440 trillion. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones News wires had for cast a $1.0 billion decline in consumer credit during April. But the surprise gain came with a revision to March, when borrowing fell $5.4 billion or 2.7 %, originally it was estimated rising by $2.0 billion," reports Jeff Bater and Meena Thiruvengadam.

Futures Trading, Stock Prices: Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), BP (NYSE:BP)

BP (NYSE:BP) shares rose 2.8 percent, as well as Exxon Mobil's (NYSE:XOM) shares rising 0.37 percent. This stock price increase is believed to be because of BP's success in their recent fuel oil containment attempt. BP says that the cap that was put onto the leaking pipe, continues to capture the spewing oil and they're expecting to increase the amount collected as the week progresses. In energy trading, oil futures were down to $71.46 a barrel, a 5 cent loss.

As of 10:08 AM in New York trading, the Standard & Poors 500 index saw an increase of 0.4 percent to 1,068.68. This was after a drop in futures trading declined as much as 1.3 percent before the opening of the U.S. stock exchange. This was after S&P 500 saw a 3.4 percent drop on June 4th. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures saw an increase of 13 points, to 9959.00. The Nasdaq 100 futures rose to 1839.50, seeing an increase of 5.25 points.

Stanley Nabi, Vice Chairman of the New York based Silvercrest Asset Management group, in charge of managing $9 billion said, "I still see a choppy stock market of small gains and losses. We see some buying today after all, how much can you keep on beating the market ? Investors just need to have more conviction. But that's probably not going to happen until we see strong second quarter earnings."

Halliburton's (NYSE:HAL) Stock Rises Today

Since April 20th, it's been a see-saw effect for Halliburton's (NYSE:HAL) shares. After seeing them plummet 14.8 percent at the close of the New York Stock Exchange yesterday at 4:00 PM, it left many investors doubting any turn around would happen.

Although this wasn't necessarily a surprise, this was the foreseen doom that would effect all oil stock prices if BP was unsuccessful at stopping the oil with their "top kill" fuel containment effort. Halliburton's role was the cementing of the well, among other things to do with the development of the blown out well.

On Wednesday, Halliburton's stock rises, increasing more than 12 percent. It's believed its due mainly to the story from the Dow Jones which reported that Halliburton believes that it will be fully indemnified from all expenses and claims resulting from the April 20th oil spill. Executives said they are confident that they will be exempt from any claims as a result of the spill. They say they have $600 million in general liability insurance.

This may be wishful thinking on Halliburton's part. Transocean is also trying to cap their liability. The Obama administration is challenging Transocean's attempts.