The 52-Week Low Club for Wednesday

January 6, 2016: Here are four stocks trading with heavy volume among 341 equities making new 52-week lows today.

Vale SA (NYSE: VALE) dropped nearly 9% on Wednesday to post a new 52-week low at $2.87 after closing at $3.156 on Tuesday. The stock’s 52-week high is $9.14. Share volume was nearly equal to the daily average of around 23.8 million shares traded. The Brazil-based mining firm is the world’s largest iron ore producer and had no specific news today. It’s the only one of our daily club members today that is not primarily in the energy business.

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) dropped about 8.6% on Wednesday to post a new 52-week low of $11.10 against a 52-week high of $21.90. The stock closed at $12.15 on Tuesday night. Volume reached topped 15 million shares, roughly 50% higher than the stock’s daily average volume. The offshore rig operator had no specific news today, but a contract cancellation on an Ensco rig has rippled through the oilfield services players today.

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Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) fell about 14% on Wednesday to post a new 52-week low of $7.77 against a high of $41.57. The stock closed at $9.04 on Tuesday night. Volume rose to around 14 million, about 30% higher than the daily average of around 11 million shares traded. Slumping crude oil prices hit the oil patch hard today.

Ensco plc (NYSE: ESV) posted a new low on Wednesday. Shares dropped more than 15% to a low of $12.60 from Tuesday’s closing price of $14.89. The stock’s 52-week high is $32.28. Volume was more than double the daily average of around 6 million shares. Brazil’s Petrobras cancelled a contract for an Ensco drillship on Sunday.