US drillers add oil and gas rigs for third week in a row
U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas...
U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a third week in a row for the first time since December 2023, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.
The total oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by two to 588in the week to February 14.
Despite this week's rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down 33 rigs, or 5% below this time last year.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs rose by one to 481 this week, while gas rigs gained one to 101.
The oil and gas rig count declined by about 5% in 2024 and 20% in 2023 as lower U.S. oil and gas prices over the past couple of years prompted energy firms to focus more on paying down debt and boosting shareholder returns rather than raising output.
Top oilfield services provider SLB is restructuring certain business functions and expecting more job cuts, according to a source familiar with the matter and an internal email seen by Reuters.
On Thursday, one day after the Trump administration moved forward with...
On Thursday, one day after the Trump administration moved forward with its voluntary resignation program that 75,000 of the federal governments’ 2.3 million civilian workers signed up for, the administration began to lay off newer employees as part of its Elon Musk-led efforts to cut costs. The layoffs are expected to target most of the 200,000 probationary employees, who have usually been in their jobs for less than a year and do not have the same employment protections as longer standing government workers. Among those let go so far are: 1,000 Veterans Affairs staffers, 3,400 Forest Service employees, and 2,000 Energy Department workers, per the Wall Street Journal.
DOJ moves to drop charges against NYC mayor after seven prosecutors...
DOJ moves to drop charges against NYC mayor after seven prosecutors resign in protest. The resignations from the Manhattan prosecutors’ office came after the Justice Department ordered them to drop bribery charges against Mayor Eric Adams. And in the kind of scorched earth resignation letter that most of us can only dream of sending, the case’s lead prosecutor Hagan Scotten told the DOJ, “I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.” Amid the rift between career prosecutors and the DOJ, a prosecutor did eventually sign the motion to dismiss that was filed yesterday…but reportedly only to spare colleagues from being fired over their refusal.
OpenAI’s board unanimously rejected Elon Musk’s unsolicited $97.4 billion offer to buy the ChatGPT-maker, saying the “much-publicized ‘bid’ is in fact not a bid at all.”
A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the Trump administration must temporarily lift its freeze on funding for USAID and said it must show it’s in compliance within five days.
Mexico said it might sue Google for changing its maps to show the Gulf of America rather than the Gulf of Mexico.
Vice President JD Vance met with the leader of Germany’s far-right party yesterday, after giving a speech assailing European leaders.
Elizabeth Holmes told People Magazine that she’s still writing patents and hopes to continue her career in healthcare technology after her release from prison.
If you want to spend your weekend catching up on everything President Trump has done in the first 25 days of his second term, here are roundups of his biggest moves, lawsuits challenging many of those moves, regulatory changes, and cuts made by DOGE.
Brent oil prices eke out weekly gain as U.S. targets Iran exports and tariff fears fade
Global benchmark crude prices posted their first weekly gain in a month...
Global benchmark crude prices posted their first weekly gain in a month Friday, finding support as the U.S. looked to reduce Iranian crude exports and after President Donald Trump did not immediately impose reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
Prices for both global and benchmark crude, however, ended the trading session lower as traders continued to fret over uncertainty surrounding tariffs and their impact on oil demand.
April Brent crude the global benchmark, fell by 28 cents, or 0.4%, at $74.74 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, settling 0.1% higher for the week, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery fell 55 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $70.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, ending down 0.4% for the week. That was its fourth weekly fall in a row.
March gasolineshed 1% to $2.09 a gallon, down 0.7% for the week, while March heating oiladded 0.5% to $2.46 a gallon, contributing to a weekly rise of 1.3%.
Natural gas for March delivery settled at $3.73 per million British thermal units, up 2.7% Friday, for a 12.6% rise on the week.
S&P 500 misses record close, books weekly gain after weak U.S. retail-sales data
The U.S. stock market closed mostly lower Friday as investors...
The U.S. stock market closed mostly lower Friday as investors weighed a retail sales report that was weaker than Wall Street expected, but major benchmarks saw weekly gains ahead of the three-day holiday weekend.
The S&P 500slipped0.44 point on Friday, or less than 0.1%, to end nearly flat at 6,114.63.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 165.35 points, or 0.4%, to close at 44,546.08.
The Nasdaq Compositerose 81.13 points,or 0.4%, to finish at 20,026.77.
Investors shrugged off tariff concerns and a hot inflation report this week, with the S&P 500 snapping back-to-back weekly losses. The S&P 500 ended Friday just 0.1% below its record closing peak notched in late January.
For the week, the S&P 500 climbed 1.5%, the Dow rose 0.5% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.6%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The stock market's fear gauge, the Cboe Volatility Index, subsided this week while the 10-year Treasury yield fell.
The 10-year Treasury rate ended Friday at 4.475%, its lowest yield since Feb. 6 based on 3 p.m. Eastern time levels, according to Dow Jones Market Data. U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on Monday in honor of Presidents Day.
