
Is the Correction in ConocoPhillips Stock Over?
By Nicholas ChapmanMar. 26 2018, Published 11:48 a.m. ET
Crude oil prices moved upward
For the week ending March 23, crude oil (USO) prices increased strongly from $62.41 per barrel to $65.88 per barrel, an increase of ~5.6%. Crude oil prices saw a positive trend during the week. They fell marginally on Monday but rose very strongly on Tuesday and Wednesday. The last two days of the week saw volatile trading. Crude oil prices decreased on Thursday and increased on Friday.
On Tuesday, crude oil prices rose above their 50-day moving average. As of March 23, crude oil’s 50-day moving average and 200-day moving average stand at $62.85 and $54.27, respectively, whereas crude oil is trading at $65.88.
Last week, natural gas prices were down for a second straight week. Natural gas prices fell from $2.72 per MMBtu (million British thermal units) to $2.63 peMMBtutu.
ConocoPhillips’s stock price
Due to the strong rise in crude oil (SCO) prices, last week, COP’s stock price increased strongly. It finished the week with a gain of more than 5%. After falling on Monday, COP’s stock price increased strongly on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, mainly due to the rise in crude oil prices.
On Wednesday, ConocoPhillips’s stock rose above its 50-day moving average. COP’s 50-day moving average is an important resistance level. The correction in COP ended in December 2017, when COP rose above its 50-day moving average.
As of March 23, COP was trading at $57.74, whereas its 50-day moving average and 200-day moving average stand at $56.16 and $49.87, respectively.
Peers
Due to mixed energy prices last week, the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE)—which represents an index of stocks across the energy sector—recorded negative performance of ~0.8%. However, COP outperformed XLE last week. COP’s peer Devon Energy (DVN) gained ~0.8% last week and outperformed XLE.
In the next part of this series, we’ll look at COP’s correlation coefficients.