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Friday's Energy Stocks: Oil giants drag sector; Dow caps worst week since Brexit

The Dow Jones Industrial Average capped its worst week since Brexit in June 2016, plummeting 665.75 points, or 2.54%, to 25,520.96 on Friday, Feb. 2. The U.S. economy added 200,000 jobs in January, when economists had expected 180,000, boosting chances of four interest rate hikes this year.

Oil and gas giants dragged the energy sector and the S&P 500 to negative territory, with the S&P 500 falling 2.12% to 2,762.13.

Following release of their fourth-quarter 2017 earnings, Exxon Mobil Corp. slumped 5.10% to close at $84.53, and Chevron Corp. shed 5.57% to settle at $118.58, both in heavy trading.

Exxon Mobil reported fourth-quarter 2017 earnings of $8.4 billion, up 399% from $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, driven by U.S. tax reform and impairments, but the adjusted results missed analyst expectations.

Likewise, Chevron posted fourth-quarter 2017 earnings of $3.1 billion, or $1.64 per share diluted, compared with $415 million, or 22 cents per share, in the same period in 2016. The results included noncash provisional tax benefits of $2.02 billion related to U.S. tax reform and a noncash charge of $190 million related to a former mining asset.

Chevron's upstream business saw a strong fourth quarter 2017, but its adjusted quarterly earnings came in below analysts' expectations as the performance of its international and domestic downstream segments were lackluster.

Joining Chevron and Exxon Mobil in red territory, Phillips 66 lost 3.82% on heavy volume to finish at $97.01. The company booked $3.20 billion in earnings in the last quarter of 2017, buoyed by a tax benefit of $2.7 billion. It also reported adjusted earnings of $548 million, or $1.07 per share, beating the S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized estimate of 86 cents per share.

Among other large-cap midstream players, Enterprise Products Partners LP declined 3.53% in active trading to end at $27.09, Enbridge Inc. closed down 3.23% on strong volume to $34.70, while Kinder Morgan Inc. retreated 3.10% in robust trading to settle at $17.50.

Shell Midstream Partners LP tumbled 8.74% on about 19 times normal volume to finish at $26.19. The partnership launched an underwritten public offering of 25,000,000 common units to repay debt and for general partnership purposes.

On the power side, merchants incurred bigger losses than electric and diversified utilities, with the SNL Merchant Generator Index falling 2.13% to 104.33, and the SNL Electric Utility Index shedding 0.60% to 469.22.

Black Hills Corp. slid 1.86% on strong volume to $53.90, after posting fourth-quarter 2017 adjusted income from continuing operations of $53.9 million, or 98 cents per share, missing the S&P Capital IQ normalized EPS consensus estimate of $1.03.

First Solar Inc. shares finished 1.64% lower at $66.44, in light trading. A 2012 shareholder lawsuit accusing First Solar of securities fraud for allegedly concealing defects in its thin film solar panels, misrepresenting the scope of the problem and making false financial statements moved one step closer to resolution.

In the coal sector, Cloud Peak Energy Inc. ended 9.18% lower at $4.45, Hallador Energy Co. was down 5.45% to $6.77, and Arch Coal Inc. slumped 5.41% to $87.55, all on below-average volume.

In a seesaw trading session, March natural gas futures settled with a modest loss Friday, after early larger losses gave way to unsustainable short-covering gains. The contract settled 1.0 cent lower at $2.846/MMBtu, while trading a range from $2.840/MMBtu to $2.920/MMBtu.

Market prices and index values are current as of the time of publication and are subject to change.