MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Oil and gas stocks were stuck in a tight trading range at the open Thursday, lacking direction from the underlying commodities market. The Amex Oil Index was fractionally higher at 1,501 points while the Philadelphia Oil Service Index was off 0.1% at 287.6. The Amex Natural Gas Index was up 0.8% at 567 points ahead of the Energy Information Administration's weekly natural gas inventory data. Among individual issues, Hess Corp. was the biggest mover in the oil group, down 2.2% on a downgrade by Citigroup to hold from buy. Crude-oil for February delivery was up 12 cents at $91.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after slipping below $91 in overnight trade.
MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Airline shares added to the prior session's gains in early trading Thursday. The Amex Airline Index rose 0.7% with nine of 14 stocks in the benchmark index trading higher. American Airlines parent AMR Corp. led gainers with a 2% rise. Alaska Airways Group shares climbed 1.7% after the company told investors it expected fourth-quarter capacity at its main Alaska Airlines carrier to rise 4% to nearly 6 billion available seat miles while costs per available seat mile come in flat with the same period last year, or fall 1% to 2% excluding fuel. The major indexes rose modestly, while crude oil futures slipped.