Wall Street continued its winning streak on Tuesday, March 6, but the energy sector was weighed down by utilities and midstream stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.04% higher at 24,884.12 while the S&P 500 concluded trading up 0.26% at 2,728.12.
OGE Energy Corp. fell 2.26% in active trading to close at $31.20, a day after S&P Global Ratings changed its outlook to negative from stable. "The outlook revision reflects the company's revised capital spending plan and the effects of U.S. corporate tax reform that we expect will weaken the company's financial measures going forward, resulting in minimal cushion for the current rating level," the rating agency said in a research note.
Among other utilities, Pinnacle West Capital Corp. shed 2.24% to finish at $76.30, Portland General Electric Co. retreated 2.21% to close at $39.40 and Xcel Energy Inc. declined 2.10% to end at $42.91, all on brisk volume.
At an industry conference, ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance said the company believes it should return 20% to 30% of its positive cash flow to shareholders "off the top" and has worked hard to reduce costs to free up even more money. "We're marking a path of capital discipline and returns over growth," he said. "I think we're trying to get value investors back. I think they left."
ConocoPhillips gained 0.13% in light trading to close the day at $54.06.
Among large cap midstream stocks, Williams Cos. Inc. added 1.43% on heavy volume to finish at $27.63, Buckeye Partners LP retreated 1.34% in light trading to close at $44.19 and Energy Transfer Partners LP closed down 1.10% on light volume to finish at $18.05.
In the coal sector, Ramaco Resources Inc. lost 5.79% on strong volume to end $6.18, Arch Coal Inc. rose 3.64% in thin volume to finish at $100.71 and Hallador Energy Co. gained 2.05% in weak trading to close at $6.48.
April natural gas futures moved decidedly higher Tuesday as lingering cold weather in forecasts supported short-covering gains. Trading to a $2.754/MMBtu near one-month high, the contract pulled back to settle 4.5 cents higher on the day at $2.749/MMBtu.
S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc. Market prices and index values are current as of the time of publication and are subject to change.
