Oil and gas stocks sees broad weakness as crude prices fall again

Shares of oil and gas companies were broadly, but lightly, lower in premarket trading Thursday, as crude oil prices fell for a second straight session amid easing Red Sea tensions. The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) shed 0.4% ahead of the open, as crude oil futures (CL.1) (CL00) slid 1.4%, after dropping 1.5% on Wednesday. Among the energy ETF's more-active components, shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) eased 0.1%, of Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) gave up 0.6%, of Chevron Corp. (CVX) slipped 0.2%, of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) were down 0.1% and of Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) fell 0.6%. The energy ETF has declined 2.5% year to date through Wednesday, and was one of just three SPDR ETFs tracking the 11 S&P 500 sectors to be down this year. Meanwhile, crude oil futures have dropped 9% this year and the S&P 500 has rallied 24.5%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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12-28-23 0839ET

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