Photo: jpchan, Creative Commons, Flickr
After easing up a bit, oil prices are back on the rise, and nothing the Saudis say about increased production and a meeting with producers and consumers seems to be stopping the gains. As a result, the broader stock market is down (helped along by additional worries over the continuing credit market crisis), and even the energy sector is seeing some setbacks.

Big Oil giant Exxon (XOM) is struggling (probably due in part to margins on its downstream operations — like gas stations), as are other oil companies. Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-B) is still reeling from attacks in Nigeria, and now Chevron (CVX) says that it has seen an oil facility attack.

The companies that are doing well right now include those that are heavy into oil services and have a variety of upstream ventures to support them. Hess (HES) is doing reasonably well and Total (TOT), the French super-major, is solidly up.

With oil prices volatility remaining and likely to remain for some time, it can be assumed that the stock market, and the energy sector in particular, will follow the lead of the oil market.

Disclosure: I do not own any oil stocks.

Site disclaimer.