by Jim Jelter (MarketWatch)
Oil and gas equities edged lower in early trade Thursday, parting ways with the underlying commodities as traders look for direction.
Some of that direction could come from the natural gas market. The Energy Department is slated to release is weekly natural gas inventory data later Thursday, with analysts expecting a draw of around 229 billion cubic feet for the week ended Feb. 2 as hearing demand picked up during the recent cold snap. Meanwhile, energy stocks were trading in a narrow range, with the Amex Oil Index ($XOI : 1,156.38, 2.52, 0.2% ) down 0.3%, the Amex Natural Gas Index ($XNG : 456.81, 1.03, 0.2% ) off 0.2%, and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX : 197.01, 0.95, 0.5% ) dropping 0.5%.
Crude oil futures reversed their downward course early, building some support under the sector. The March crude contract was up 27 cents at $57.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
BP Plc (BP :62.86, 0.62, 1.0% ) was the biggest percentage mover in the oil group, down nearly 1.2% after A.G. Edwards cut its price target on the stock. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM : 74.61, 0.18, 0.2% ) shares were off 0.3% at $74.58.
