Oil Stocks Fall as Summer Surge Begins to Deflate

Shares in oil companies saw impressive gains during the summer that returned energy to most-favored-sector status, especially as oil prices began to zoom toward $100 a barrel in late September. But crude prices are falling sharply this week, and that’s sending oil stocks lower as well, with Chevron down 2.4%, exchange-traded energy sector fund XLE off 2.6%, oilfield services firm Halliburton down 2.7% and shale firm EOG 2.9% lower. “Fears over demand factors are creeping back in the market place,” says Spartan Capital’s Peter Cardillo in a note on crude markets. “Global macroeconomic headwinds and rising yields [suggest] the price of oil may have reached a short- term peak.”