Weekly Performance Update On 6 Large Foreign Integrated Oil And Gas Companies

By Power Hedge: Crude oil prices showed substantial volatility over the past week. The price increased on Tuesday and from there fell precipitously with a major plunge occurring on Thursday and Friday. Prices for crude closed out at under $100 per barrel. This plunge, combined with the overall decline of the S&P 500, caused prices of integrated oil companies to fall over the past week. As usual, the degree of movement varied by stock.

By Power Hedge: Crude prices fell slowly over the last week but were not particularly volatile. The price fell from $92.21 to its close at $90.86. The stock market increased though, moving inversely to the price of crude. The market, as measured by the S&P 500, was much more volatile. The market climbed quickly on Monday and early Tuesday then quickly fell to its weekly low on Wednesday before recovering in the latter half of the week.

By Power Hedge: Crude oil prices declined slowly over the past week. There was not the volatility that is expected in today's market. This is in stark contrast to the S&P 500 which did indeed display significant volatility. The S&P started the week by climbing on Monday and Tuesday, reaching its intra-week high on Tuesday. From there, it declined overall for the remainder of the week with the occasional correction.

By Power Hedge: This proved to be a remarkably slow news week for the five large foreign oil and gas companies that I track in these weekly performance updates. The biggest story of the week was Total's (TOT) continuing gas leak at the Elgin platform in the North Sea. Additionally, this was a shorter trading week than normal due to Friday's market holiday.

By Power Hedge: Crude oil prices were fairly volatile this week but overall were relatively flat when measured over the course of the full week. Despite spiking to over $88 per barrel in the middle of the week, a correction on Friday brought prices down to $84.45 per barrel which was just slightly above the price where they opened the week. The S&P 500 delivered similar performance except that it closed lower than where it opened the week unlike oil, which was slightly up.

By Power Hedge: Crude oil prices fell over the last week, in defiance of the S&P 500 which actually increased. The price proved to be rather volatile though as it fell sharply immediately following Monday's open and then slowly began to rebound over the remainder of week. The price of crude did fail to regain the level that it held at Monday's open. As usual, however, each of the six oil stocks that I track in this weekly update series reacted differently to the market movement.

By Power Hedge: Crude oil prices increased relatively steadily over the past week, although they did fall slightly on Friday. This roughly corresponds with the action in the overall market as measured by the S&P 500. The stock index did show somewhat more volatility, however. It also increased over the course of the week.

By Power Hedge: The price of crude oil increased by 1.14% over the past week. The overall market also had a very good week, with the S&P 500 climbing over the last week. This had the effect of pushing up the stocks of big oil companies, including those that I follow with these weekly updates. It has not affected all the companies in the same way as there are many other factors that could have some influence over investor behavior.