Summer driving season will drive Big Oil stocks higher. Now is the time to buy.
Photo: Karmablue , Creative Commons, Flickr
Rising gas prices affect more than just Big Oil stocks (usually helping the share prices). Rising gas prices also affect other denizens of the stock market, though in a way that is less positive. Indeed, reports MSN Money, Big Oil could have an effect on the stock market in the coming months, and already affected April:
"Consumers are entering the summer season with a cautious view of increasing gas prices," National Retail Federation CEO Tracy Mullin said in a statement Friday. "To offset the effects of higher prices, more consumers are giving their wallets a little extra cushion by cutting back on discretionary spending or choosing to frequent retailers closer to home."
April same-store sales fell for the first time in four years, and analysts blamed gas prices in part for sales tumbles at Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), where sales at stores open at least a year fell 3.5%, the retail giant’s worst performance ever, and at Target (TGT), where same-store sales fell 6.1%.
But what about Big Oil stocks? Will they fall too? Not likely. Big Oil stocks like Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and BP (BP) are already on the move, and peak summer driving season hasn’t even started yet. With BP cutting back production in Prudhoe Bay for a few days and Americans preferring to cut other spending rather than stop driving, gas prices really have nowhere to go but up. And that means Big Oil has nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the gains. Now is probably the ideal time to add Big Oil stocks to your investment portfolio. The prices aren’t as good as they were last week, but you can still get in now, before the stock prices rise further, thanks to summer driving season.
Disclosure: I am biting the bullet and buying BP. I am going to go do so as soon as I am done here. The next disclosure I write will reflect that. As you might gather from earlier disclosures (and posts), I am morally opposed to Exxon and will never buy stock from that company. Currently, I do not own any Big Oil stocks in my regular investment portfolio, or in the mutual funds that make up my IRA.