News

Energy stocks rose late Thursday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index up 0.8% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) adding '%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index climbed 2.5%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index gained 1.1%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.9% to $82.85 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent advanced 0.7% to $85.68 a barrel.

US natural-gas stocks rose 65 billion cubic feet in the week ended Friday, a larger gain than the 56 billion increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following an increase of 32 billion in the previous week. Stocks at 3.199 trillion are 9.7% higher than in the comparable week a year earlier and 18.7% above the five-year average.

Henry Hub natural gas futures fell 2.4% to $2.27 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Pure Cycle (PCYO) shares jumped 6.3%, a day after the company reported fiscal Q3 earnings of $0.12 a share, down from $0.14 a year earlier. Revenue rose to $7.6 million from $6.9 million.

Marathon Oil (MRO) agreed to a $241.5 million settlement with the US government for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department said. Marathon shares rose 1.9%.

Martin Midstream Partners (MMLP) received an acquisition proposal from Nut Tree Capital Management and Caspian Capital for $4 per unit in cash, the hedge funds said. Martin Midstream shares jumped 12%.

The Federal Trade Commission is planning to delay a decision on whether to block Chevron's (CVX) $53 billion acquisition of Hess (HES) until an arbitration case with Exxon Mobil (XOM) is settled, Bloomberg reported. Chevron shares rose 0.2%, Hess added 0.3% and Exxon gained 1.1%.

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