WPX - Trump's Tweets Send Oil Stocks Screaming Higher Today
Oil prices scorched higher on Thursday with WTI, the U.S. oil benchmark, rallying 22% by 11:30 a.m. EDT, pushing it up close to $25 a barrel. That rally in the energy market sent oil stocks soaring, with several surging double digits. Among those leading the charge higher were Apache (NYSE: APA), Cenovus Energy (NYSE: CVE), Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ: FANG), Murphy Oil (NYSE: MUR), Parsley Energy (NYSE: PE), and WPX Energy (NYSE: WPX).
The main factors fueling a rally in the oil market were some tweets by President Trump that Russia and Saudi Arabia were about to end their oil price war. President Trump tweeted this morning that he had just spoken with Saudi Arabia's crown prince, who he said recently had discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which led President Trump to believe they'd cut production by at least 10 million barrels per day.
He followed that one up a few minutes later by tweeting that the reduction could be as much as 15 million barrels per day. This declaration follows a similar one made by the president at his COVID-19 press briefing on Wednesday, where he said: "I have confidence in both that they'll be able to work it out."