Just like nearly everyone else, Big Oil is doing a victory dance on the stock market. And why not? The Fed rate cut made money cheaper, so that helps earnings. And oil prices are at record levels. That supposedly eats into Big Oil profits, but it never seems to really reduce profits, and the Fed rate cut will probably take care of that anyway, despite threats by a variety of oil producing countries to move away from the dollar.
The Motley Fool comments on Exxon’s (XOM) rather dramatic gains on the stock market:
Mega-cap giants such as $500 billion ExxonMobil and $425 billion General Electric (GE) spiked like penny stocks after a spam assault.
But Exxon isn’t the only Big Oil company to benefit. I’m glad I hung on to my BP (BP), even though I am still considering selling (preferably before the inevitable correction follows the current free-for-all). And Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP) and Statoil (STO) are all doing quite well right now.
So, is it particularly ethical to go with the current ride on the stock market? Well, it depends on what you think of as ethical. I invest in BP because the company has its own investments in alternative energy (among the most of Big Oil). I eschew Exxon because the company refuses to diversify into renewable energy. Whether that’s the reason BP often lags behind other Big Oil companies, especially Exxon, I don’t know (but it makes BP cheaper).
The bottom line is that Big Oil is likely to remain stable for quite some time. Resources won’t run out for a while, and oil prices will keep going up (or at least they won’t go down too much). And that should keep Big Oil solid for at least the next decade.
Disclosure: I am investing in BP. I am not investing in any other companies listed above.
Photo:futureAtlas.com, Creative Commons, Flickr