Energy

Short Sellers Pull Back on Oil and Gas Stocks

Artem_Egorov / Getty Images

Crude oil traded around $53.50 a barrel Wednesday morning, up by about $3.00 (nearly 6%) a barrel over the past week. Crude has traded between about $50.50 and $54.00 for the past week.

Of the companies we track, short interest decreased on five of six energy stocks during the two-week reporting period ending December 31.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) saw short interest tumble by 19% to around 14 million shares, which represent about 1% of the company’s float. Days to cover remained at two. In the two-week short interest period, the stock’s share price fell by about 3.1%. Its 52-week range is $51.60 to $117.29, and it closed at $93.34 on Tuesday.

Exxon Mobil Corp.’s (NYSE: XOM) short interest dipped by 1% to 44.1 million shares, or about 1% of the company’s float. Days to cover remained at two. In the two weeks to December 31, the share price rose by 8.1%. Its 52-week range is $30.11 to $69.59, and the stock closed at $47.88 on Tuesday.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) saw a drop of 16% in short interest during the two-week period. About 0.2% of the total float, or 6.4 million American depositary shares (ADSs), were short, and days to cover remained at one. The shares rose by about 4.9% over the two-week period and closed Tuesday at $25.01, in a 52-week range of $14.74 to $39.07.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) short interest increased by 3% in the final two weeks of December. Some 42.8 million shares were short, representing about 4% of the company’s total float. Days to cover remained at four, and the stock price rose by 1.1% during the period. Shares closed Tuesday at $47.42, in a 52-week range of $20.84 to $65.61.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR) short interest fell by 5% during the two-week period. Some 30.5 million ADSs were short as of December 31, less than 1% of the total float. They added 17.4% in the two-week short interest period, and days to cover remained at two. Petrobras closed at $11.72 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $4.01 to $15.23.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) saw short interest decrease by 14% to 32.1 million shares. Days to cover remained at two, and about 3.5% of the company’s shares were short. In the two weeks to December 31, the share price jumped by almost 10%. The stock’s 52-week range is $8.52 to $47.58, and shares closed Tuesday at $22.62. Oxy is one of six oil and gas stocks we profiled Tuesday that are trading well below 52-week highs.

Credit Card Companies Are Doing Something Nuts

Credit card companies are at war. The biggest issuers are handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers.

It’s possible to find cards paying 1.5%, 2%, and even 5% cash back today. That’s free money for qualified borrowers, and the type of thing that would be crazy to pass up. Those rewards can add up to thousands of dollars every year in free money, and include other benefits as well.

We’ve assembled some of the best credit cards for users today.  Or you can jump straight to our top pick today which pays up to 5% cash back, a $200 bonus on top, and $0 annual fee. Click here to apply before they stop offering rewards this generous. 

 

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.

AI Portfolio

Discover Our Top AI Stocks

Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.

You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.