New York-listed oil and gas majors have listed their short interest data for the 29 July settlement date, shedding light on investor's opinions on whether energy stock prices will rise or fall in the coming weeks.
Five of the six oil majors examined by 24/7 Wall Street - including Chevron, Exxon, BP, Petroleo Brasiliero, and Occidental Petroleum - saw their short interest decrease compared to the most recent previous reading.
This means investors are less likely to sell their energy stocks, which could mean they are generally optimistic about the financial future of the industry.
ConocoPhillips (COP) was the only company listed that saw short interest increase over the past month.
Analysts at JP Morgan released an analysis of the COP stock last month, giving the stock a "neutral" rating. Another financial analysis firm, Jefferies, said they expected COP to "underperform" in their report in April.
Oil companies have been struggling to cope with low oil prices, which have been slow to recover after crashes in 2014 and early 2016.
Chevron recently announced the sale of $5 billion worth of its assets in Asia as part of a plan to raise $10 billion in capital. The company saw $1.5 billion in losses during the second quarter of 2016, though the decline was less than analysts had anticipated.
Similarly, Marathon Oil and Devon reported $170 million and $1.57 billion in losses in Q2 respectively, but both firms beat expert expectations of the severity of financial outcomes for the period.
ExxonMobil's ongoing fight with the U.S. Department of Justice - in which the company's home government accuses it of deliberately misleading the American people about the causes and severity of climate change - coupled with low oil prices have caused it to drop two spots on Business Insider's list of most valuable companies, released earlier this month.
By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Zainab Calcuttawala is an American journalist based in Morocco. She completed her undergraduate coursework at the University of Texas at Austin (Hook’em) and reports on… More