Oil Stocks

Sell or be a long-term investor willing to ride out the storm. That's the advice investors are getting about their oil company stocks these days.Crude oil prices are likely to stay between $18 and $20 a barrel this year, a result of OPEC disarray and the willingness of major producer Saudi Arabia to accept current price levels.Motorists, happily, will see flat gasoline prices, except for a "business-as-usual" 5-to-7-cent-a-gallon increase between now and the peak summer driving season.Investors, on the other hand, are left in the lurch.

I think it is great the way my Exxon Mobil Corp. shares have been doing, but it seems like this can't last. Should I continue to hold? - K.V., via the Internet Exxon Mobil is the largest firm in the oil and gas business at a time when global turmoil has pushed energy prices to record levels, which doesn't translate to either popularity or freedom from troubles. Federal and state authorities have asked the company for $92 million to clean the remaining oil from the devastating Exxon Valdez tanker grounding of 17 years ago. The nation's largest oil spill emptied 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound and onto the beach.

Oil stocks are flowing into the nation's investment portfolios in a big way in 1995.It's no coincidence that this long-awaited deluge is occurring in what's likely to be the first year during the 1990s that oil prices themselves actually went up.After a quick, temporary price spike to more than $40 a barrel because of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, world crude oil prices have been gradually trending downward. However, because of an increase in worldwide demand, an average gain in price of $1 to $1.50 a barrel is quite possible this year.

Before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, Wall Street was warning that oil stock prices were getting high. Investors were urged to be cautious. As the price of crude oil jumped during the past year, to about $70 a barrel, oil stocks surged. Since September 2004, the American Stock Exchange's index of integrated oil companies, a basket of 12 mostly large producers, is up 68 percent. Some companies' stocks have done far better. Shares of Valero Energy Corp., a refiner, have climbed by more than 150 percent this year; Halliburton Co., the world's largest oil-services company, is up more than 68 percent.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks closed little changed yesterday as nagging concern that the Federal Reserve will push interest rates higher to curb inflation offset a bounce in oil companies' shares."

NEW YORK -- Stocks rallied to record highs yesterday amid gains in oil shares brought on by an analyst's forecast that OPEC would reduce production.Reports that consumer spending rose during Christmas, providing evidence of a stronger economy, and record-setting rallies in the German and French stock markets also fueled the U.S. market's rise."

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks rallied yesterday as a decline in Treasury bond yields and surging oil-related stocks spurred the market.Yesterday was "the best day the stock market has had this year," said Edward Collins, executive vice president of institutional trading at Daiwa Securities (America).The Dow Jones industrial average closed 35.39 higher, at 3292.20, after rising as high as 3294.36. Gains in Exxon Corp., Texaco Inc. and Chevron Corp. accounted for about one-third of the advance as oil stocks soared on speculation that OPEC might seek to cut production.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks closed mixed yesterday as a rally among shares of economically sensitive companies offset weakness in Exxon Corp. and other oil stocks."

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks declined yesterday, led by a slump in international oil issues and jitters tied to the presidential election.The Dow Jones industrial average fell 9.73, to 3252.48, with Chevron Corp., Texaco Inc. and Exxon Corp. accounting for much of the slide.Declining common stocks outnumbered advancing issues by about 8-to-7 on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading was active, with about 210 million shares changing hands on the Big Board.Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.83, to 419.92, the NASDAQ Combined Composite index declined 2.98, to 604.59, and the Dow Jones transportation average slumped 8.66, to 1357.

Although oil stocks surged on news that the OPEC cartel agreed to limit production, the Dow Jones industrial average barely budged yesterday. The Dow indicator edged up 0.28 to close at 3,566.30, showing a gain of 295 points, or 9 percent, in the roller-coaster year since Sept. 30, 1992.MONEY TALKS: "October is an especially dangerous month in which to speculate in stocks. So are November, December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August and September." (Overheard somewhere)

About the only way a motorist who just filled the gas tank of his sport-utility vehicle or monster truck could feel good about that experience is if he owned shares of an oil company. Gas station bills that seem like mortgage payments are a byproduct of this 2004 world of international tensions over whether the global oil supply could be disrupted and crude oil prices sent higher. Meanwhile, the passenger vehicles in this country get bigger and bigger as oil prices go higher and higher.

MOSCOW - Major shareholders in the Russian oil giant Yukos offered yesterday to cede control of the company in exchange for the release from jail of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, Yukos' former chief executive and Russia's richest man. Prosecutors immediately dismissed the proposal as "absurd from both a legal and a moral point of view," the Interfax news agency reported. But it is the first public sign of bargaining between the oil company's major owners and the government, and it could lift the uncertainty clouding the Russian investment climate.

MOSCOW - As Russian President Vladimir V. Putin faced the biggest crisis of his leadership, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said yesterday that he was "deeply concerned" about authorities' seizure of a large chunk of shares in Yukos Oil Co. In a rare expression of public defiance, top pro-market officials expressed their alarm about Russia's direction. They spoke out at the end of a tumultuous week that saw the jailing of the country's richest man and the seizure of his company's shares, panic in Russia's financial markets, and the resignation in protest of the president's chief of staff, Alexander Voloshin.

MOSCOW - Russian prosecutors seized control of a large block of stock in the country's largest oil company yesterday, less than a week after jailing its chief executive, actions that critics called a blow against private property and the rule of law. A spokesman for Yukos Oil Co. said in a statement that investigators from the prosecutor general's office impounded shares representing 44 percent of the company. The seized shares were owned by chief executive officer Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky and several of his allies.

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks had their biggest decline in six months yesterday as rising tensions in the Middle East and Home Depot Inc.'s warning that profit will miss expectations spooked investors. The Nasdaq composite index dropped to its lowest close this year. Citigroup Inc., J. P. Morgan & Co. and other financial shares fell on concern that rising oil prices will spur faster inflation. Oil stocks such as Texaco Inc. and Unocal Corp. rose with the price of crude. "There's no compelling reason to buy stocks and a lot more reasons to sell - we have Home Depot blowing up" and higher oil prices, said Robert Leshman, who runs New York hedge fund Briar Partners LP. "The lower stocks go, the more fear sets in and people say, `Get me out at any price.

The Dow Jones industrial average streaked to within 65 points of the 10,000-point mark yesterday, in a rally fueled by oil stocks, American Express Co. and Coca-Cola Co., then fell back a bit to close at 9,897.44.Over the day, the index of 30 big company stocks rose 124.60 points, or 1.27 percent.The Dow index has climbed 716.01 points since the year began and is up 7.8 percent."It is breathtaking, particularly after four years of 20-plus percent gains," said Judith Jones, senior managing director at Cleveland-based Key Asset Management Inc., and co-manager of the Victory Value Fund.

Before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, Wall Street was warning that oil stock prices were getting high. Investors were urged to be cautious. As the price of crude oil jumped during the past year, to about $70 a barrel, oil stocks surged. Since September 2004, the American Stock Exchange's index of integrated oil companies, a basket of 12 mostly large producers, is up 68 percent. Some companies' stocks have done far better. Shares of Valero Energy Corp., a refiner, have climbed by more than 150 percent this year; Halliburton Co., the world's largest oil-services company, is up more than 68 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average streaked to within 65 points of the 10,000-point mark yesterday, in a rally fueled by oil stocks, American Express Co. and Coca-Cola Co., then fell back a bit to close at 9,897.44.Over the day, the index of 30 big company stocks rose 124.60 points, or 1.27 percent.The Dow index has climbed 716.01 points since the year began and is up 7.8 percent."It is breathtaking, particularly after four years of 20-plus percent gains," said Judith Jones, senior managing director at Cleveland-based Key Asset Management Inc., and co-manager of the Victory Value Fund.

NEW YORK -- Microsoft Corp. shares rallied yesterday after a 2-for-1 stock split, leading the Nasdaq composite index up 23.63, or 1.4 percent, to a record 1,751.76 -- past its Oct. 9 record.Microsoft rose $4 to close at $81.625 after the split.Intel Corp. gained $2.375 to $94.1875 and Dell Computer Corp. continued its recent surge, gaining $4.625 to a record $130.9375.Trusted Information Systems Inc., which makes security software for computer networks, rose $6.68 to $19.31 after Network Associates Inc. said it will acquire the company for about $300 million in stock.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks fell as companies including Atmel Corp. warned that fourth-quarter profits will disappoint. A rebound in oil stocks from a two-day slump helped the Dow Jones industrial average pare a 129-point loss to 4 points.The Dow closed at 7,902.27, down 3.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 2.58 to 964.00 and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 18.44 to 1,561.70.Among other broad market indexes, the Russell 2,000 index of small capitalization stocks lost 3.31 to 429.79; the Wilshire 5,000 index, comprising stocks on the New York, American and Nasdaq stock exchanges, dropped 35.43 to 9,213.