Broader U.S. indexes traded lower on Tuesday, May 29, following a market unrest triggered by political drama in Italy, as the government may be looking at another general election. Energy stocks mostly were unaffected by the European turmoil.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 1.58% to end the day at 24,361.45, and the S&P 500 lost 1.16% at 2,689.86.
In the midstream sector, CVR Energy Inc. saw its share price drop 9.15% to settle at $39.62 on more than five times the average volume. The company announced plans to acquire up to 37,154,236 common units of its refining master limited partnership CVR Refining LP at an exchange ratio of 0.6335 shares of CVR Energy common stock per common unit of CVR Refining, valuing the refinery's interests at $795.8 million. CVR Refining's stock jumped 8.37% on the news to reach $23.95 on about seven times the average volume.
Dominion Energy Midstream Partners LP shares slid 4.06% to complete a brisk session at $13.00.
Pembina Pipeline Corp. stock added 1.17% to close a light session on the Toronto Stock Exchange at C$44.03 after raising the bottom end of its adjusted EBITDA guidance range for 2018 by C$100 million to reflect "strong customer demand," resulting in increased utilization in its pipelines and facilities business divisions.
Kinder Morgan Inc. gained 0.94% to $16.04 on heavy volume after the Canadian federal government agreed to take over subsidiary Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd.'s Trans Mountain oil pipeline and expansion for C$4.5 billion. Kinder Morgan Canada shares dropped 2.95% to C$16.10 on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 18 times average trading volume.
The S&P 500 Energy Index shrank 0.32% to close at 546.01, while the Alerian MLP Index edged up 0.08% to finish the day at 262.24.
Among electric utilities, PG&E Corp. shares dropped 5.19% to $42.34 in above-average trading after California forestry investigators said violations of tree-clearing ordinances were responsible for trees or branches falling on subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines, causing wildfires and three incidents.
Share prices of Avangrid Inc. and Emera Inc. were slightly down at market close. Maine Gov. Paul LePage has directed staff to research the possibility of the state leaving ISO New England's wholesale electricity market and integrating closer with Canada as a potential response to the continued blocking of new natural gas pipelines by Massachusetts and New York.
The two companies own two of the largest utilities in Maine. Avangrid shares shed 0.39% to close at $53.21 on above-average volume and Emera stock retreated 0.42% to C$40.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on below-average volume.
In power production sector, TerraForm Power Inc. shares declined 0.82% to finish a robust session at $10.87. The company plans to sell up to $600 million of common stock to help finance its acquisition of Saeta Yield SA, a Spanish renewable energy company with more than 1,000 MW of contracted assets.
In renewable energy sector, Ormat Technologies Inc. shares trimmed 0.86% at the close of a slow session, settling at $51.77. The geothermal power producer warned that lava from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii covered wellheads of two geothermal wells at its 38-MW Puna power plant, which could have an adverse impact on business.
Williams Capital Group has cut SCANA Corp.'s stock back to "sell" based on the increasing potential for South Carolina lawmakers to enact a rate cut and recent negative developments on the regulatory side. SCANA's share price was down 0.47%, closing a slightly below-average session at $35.64.
The S&P 500 Utilities Index gained 0.04% to 254.74 at the end of Tuesday's session.
June natural gas futures traded in mostly negative territory in their final day as the lead contract. Weighed down by weather outlooks that show below-average temperatures in major cooling markets, the contract moved in a $2.838/MMBtu to $2.968/MMBtu trading range and settled 6.4 cents lower at $2.875/MMBtu.
Market prices and index values are current as of the time of publication and are subject to change.
