Performance, Outlook for Key Stock Sectors

The price of oil, which has been yo-yoing since Tuesday’s attacks, fell in New York and London on Monday on reports that the United States asked OPEC to pump more crude to ease prices and help the U.S. economy. Energy stocks, meanwhile, fell almost without exception.

U.S. benchmark West Texas intermediate oil for October delivery fell 72 cents to $28.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange; that’s down 2.4% from the brief Friday online session but up more than 4% from the last floor session a week ago.

Earlier in London, Brent crude oil futures fell $1.05, or 3.6%, to $28.38 a barrel, after rising 6.9% last week.

Officials of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries quickly said the U.S. had not asked the cartel to increase production. Oil markets have been buffeted by conflicting fears: that U.S. retaliation for the terrorist attacks could curtail production in the Middle East, causing prices to rise, and that an economic slowdown would damp demand, causing prices to fall.

Stocks of most oil producers and drilling companies declined, with the notable exception of Phillips Petroleum, which closed its acquisition of Tosco. Phillips, which added gasoline stations and refineries through the $7-billion purchase, saw its shares inch up 3 cents to $58.59.

BP shed 36 cents to close at $49.16 a share; Exxon Mobil fell $1.09 to $40.15; Chevron declined $1.48 to $90.22; and Texaco dropped $3.18 to $67.25. Among drilling firms, Halliburton ended at $26.65 a share, down $2.08; Schlumberger at $48.30, off $2.06; and Baker Hughes at $33.90, off 65 cents.

In other commodities trading, gold futures, which jumped more than $15 an ounce in brief trading Friday, slipped Monday but held on to most of the gain.

Gold for December delivery fell 40 cents to $289.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the Nymex, according to Associated Press. Gold futures last traded on the Comex floor a week ago at $275.50 an ounce.

Shares of gold-mining companies rose. Placer Dome gained 63 cents to $11.73, Newmont Mining rose $1.13 to $22.28, and Barrick Gold rose 54 cents to $16.65.

Nymex, which is about a block from the destroyed World Trade Center towers, ferried employees and traders by boat to the building for the exchange’s first open outcry session since the attacks. North America’s primary exchange for energy and precious metals futures did manage two hours of Internet trading Friday on a previously unused system.