Schlumberger and Other Energy Stocks Making Big Moves on November 16, 2012

The Nasdaq is trading down 1%, the S&P 500 has fallen 0.6% and the Dow has slipped 0.8%, marking a bad morning for the market. The energy sector is the category of stocks that relate to producing or supplying energy. This sector includes companies involved in the exploration and development of oil or gas reserves, oil and gas drilling, or integrated power firms. Performance in the sector is largely driven by the supply and demand for worldwide energy. Energy producers will do very well during times of high oil and gas prices, but will earn less when the value of energy drops. Furthermore, this sector is sensitive to political events, which historically have driven changes in the price of oil.

The Energy sector (XLE) is currently lagging behind the overall market, down 1.2%, and its current biggest movers are:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
InterOil Corporation (NYSE:IOC)	$2.97 billion	+4%
Oiltanking (NYSE:OILT)	$648.5 million	+3.8%
Concho Resources (NYSE:CXO)	$8.4 billion	-3.5%
Atwood Oceanics (NYSE:ATW)	$3.03 billion	-3.5%
Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB)	$91.81 billion	-3.1%
SM (NYSE:SM)	$3.32 billion	-3.1%
Chesapeake Midstream Partners (NYSE:ACMP)	$4.69 billion	+2.7%

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InterOil Corporation (NYSE:IOC) is at $63.85 per share after an increase of 4%. So far today, the company's volume is 604,946 shares.

After an increase of 3.8%, Oiltanking (NYSE:OILT) has reached a current price of $34.62. The company's volume is currently 23,304 shares for the day, in line with the current daily average.

At $77.52, Concho Resources (NYSE:CXO) has slipped 3.5%. The company's volume is currently 352,690 shares. This is on pace to fall short of yesterday's volume of 1.2 million shares.

After a decline of 3.5%, Atwood Oceanics (NYSE:ATW) has hit a share price of $44.77. At 612,592 shares, the company's volume so far today is 1.2 times the average volume over the last three months.

Falling 3.1%, Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) is currently at a share price of $66.99. The company's volume for the day so far is 3.5 million shares.

Currently trading at $48.74 per share, SM (NYSE:SM) has fallen 3.1%. The company's volume is currently 489,346 shares for the day, consistent with its current daily average.

Chesapeake Midstream Partners (NYSE:ACMP) has risen 2.7% and is currently trading at $32.52 per share. The company is trading at a volume of 100,649 shares. This is a sign that there will be less trading activity than there was yesterday.

The Bottom Line On any given day, a particular stock may see positive or negative change in its share price. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. However, these fundamental metrics must be analyzed with historic data, industry information in addition to firm specific financial statements.