Oil shares gain as Tesla overtakes GM in market value

April 11, 2017 | 11:00

(0) user say

NEW YORK: Petroleum-linked shares were gainers on Monday (Apr 10), while Tesla overtook General Motors as the biggest automaker by market value and US stocks finished slightly positive.

Professional golfer Sergio Garcia tours the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) a day after winning the 81st Masters tournament. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)

Oil-linked shares advanced in concert with a 1.6 per cent rise in crude prices, with ExxonMobil adding 0.5 per cent, Apache 2.6 per cent and Transocean 2.6 per cent.

Tesla Motors shot up 3.3 per cent following an analyst upgrade by stocks analyst Piper Jaffray, a jump that allowed the electric-car maker to overtake GM in market capitalisation despite GM's much larger sales and revenues.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 1.92 points (0.01 per cent) at 20,658.02.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.62 points (0.07 per cent) to 2,357.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also edged up 3.11 points (0.05 per cent) to 5,880.93.

Analysts cited a number of geopolitical questions that are crimping stock prices, including uncertainty over the Syria situation following last week's US bombings of the country, and anxiety over the upcoming French presidential election.

Markets are expected to soon focus on corporate earnings reports, which begin in earnest later this week.

Stocks with strong performances on the day included Caterpillar, which led the Dow with a 1.7 per cent gain, Amazon which rose 1.4 per cent, and Expedia which climbed 1.6 per cent.

Wells Fargo dropped 0.6 per cent after its board announced it was clawing back US$75 million in additional compensation from two executives responsible for its fake accounts scandal.

Whole Foods Market surged 10.0 per cent on news that activist fund Jana Partners took about a nine percent stake in the company.

United Continental airline rose 0.9 per cent despite heavy criticism of the airline on social media after it forcefully removed a passenger from a flight due to overbooking.

AFP

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional