How We Will Kick the Bad Habit of Stocks Chasing Oil

The American Petroleum Institute’s (API) estimate for a crude oil inventory build sent oil lower after U.S. equity markets had closed Tuesday. By the open Wednesday morning, equity investors were already well-groomed for bad news and we got it when the EIA reported an actual build versus expectations for a draw. Last week the same reports produced positive signals, with draws from inventory serving to send stocks higher. What’s funny is that weather has likely been influencing the week-to-week swings, but the market is acting like the data carries implications about the long-term supply/demand dynamics for energy. It does not right now! So, how are we going to kick this bad habit of stocks chasing oil back and forth then? See more on how stocks can stop chasing oil.

Security Sector	12-30-15
iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil TR ETN (NYSE: OIL)	-3.6%
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	-0.7%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	-0.7%
PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq: QQQ)	-0.9%
iShares Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM)	-1.0%
Vanguard Total Stock Market (NYSE: VTI)	-0.8%
Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLE)	-1.4%
SPDR S&P Oil & Gas E&P (NYSE: XOP)	-2.9%
Market Vectors Oil Services (NYSE: OIH)	-1.8%
Industrial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLI)	-0.8%
Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF)	-0.7%

DISCLOSURE: Kaminis is long XLE. Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only. Article interests energy investors including Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), BP (NYSE: BP), PetroChina (NYSE: PTR), Petrobras (NYSE: PZE), Royal Dutch Shell (OTC: RYDAF.PK), Total (NYSE: TOT), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Repsol (OTC: REPYY.PK), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Eni SpA (NYSE: E), Sasol (NYSE: SSL), Encana (NYSE: ECA), Suncor (NYSE: SU), Imperial Oil (AMEX: IMO), Statoil (NYSE: STO), Cenovus (NYSE: CVE), Transocean (NYSE: RIG), Penn West Petroleum (NYSE: PWE), Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR), Noble (NYSE: NE), Concho (NYSE: CXO), Diamond Offshore (NYSE: DO), Ensco (NYSE: ESV), Whiting Petroleum (NYSE: WLL), Nabors (NYSE: NBR), Pride International (NYSE: PDE), Helmerich & Payne (NYSE: HP), QEP Resources (NYSE: QEP), Enerplus (NYSE: ERF), Rowan (NYSE: RDC), Cobalt (NYSE: CIE), Patterson UTI (Nasdaq: PTEN), SandRidge (NYSE: SD), Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV), Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI), Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT), Cameron (NYSE: CAM), FMC Tech (NYSE: FTI), Oil States International (NYSE: OIS), Superior Energy (NYSE: SPN), Carbo Ceramics (NYSE: CRR), Helix Energy (NYSE: HLX), Pioneer (NYSE: PXD), CNOOC (NYSE: CEO), China Petroleum and Chemical (NYSE: SNP), Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC), Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE: CNQ), Apache (NYSE: APA), Anadarko (NYSE: APC), Devon (NYSE: DVN), EOG (NYSE: EOG), Chesapeake (NYSE: CHK).