The U.S. stock market ended higher on Wednesday’s jerky trading day with modest gains, extending its winning streak to three sessions, as investors widely look ahead to the European Central Bank to deliver on monetary stimulus at its key meeting on Thursday.
Treasury bonds pulled back since investors looked ahead to Thursday’s policy-setting meeting by the European Central Bank. Gold snapped a seven-day winning streak. Oil settled higher ahead of U.S. inventory data. The dollar fall against the euro.
Basic materials stocks went up broadly on Wall Street on Wednesday, with the sector seeing an overall boost of 1.0%. More broadly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average raised 0.5%, the Nasdaq pushed 0.5% higher and the S&P 500 rose 0.5%.
On Wednesday, Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors led shares higher. At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.22%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.47%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.27%.
In Oil & Gas sector, Halcon Resources Corp (NYSE:HK) skyrocketed 11.93%, and closed at $1.22, in its last trading session, as the company declared additional reductions to its 2015 drilling and achievement budget. Halcon’s drilling and achievements budget for 2015 is $375 - 425 million. Capital will be directed towards locations in the Fort Berthold area of the Williston Basin and El Halcon in East Texas. Additionally, the Company expects to spend about $20 million on leasehold, infrastructure, seismic and other in 2015.
Halcon Resources Corp (NYSE:HK) is an independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, production, exploration and development of onshore oil and natural gas properties in the United States.
Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP), closed higher at 3.38% to $63.92, after the company’s first quarter earnings release, interested parties are invited to listen to its conference call that will be broadcast live over the Internet on Thursday, January 29, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. (ET) with John Lindsay, President and CEO, and Juan Pablo Tardio, Vice President and CFO.
Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP), is primarily a contract drilling company. As of December 31, 2014, the Company’s existing fleet included 337 U.S. land rigs, 40 international land rigs and nine offshore platform rigs.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN), settled higher at 6.69% to $15.79, as the company will hold its conference call to talk about results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2014 on Thursday, February 5, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN), subsidiaries provide onshore contract drilling and pressure pumping services to exploration and production companies in North America.
SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE:SD), surged 4.24%, and settled at $1.23, after the company declared financial results for the quarter that ended September 30, 2014. The Company also filed restated results for quarterly periods in 2013 and 2014. Additionally, the Company also revised the recording of the Century Plant construction contract to account for it under the full cost method of accounting rather than the accomplished contract method of accounting for the year ended 2012.
SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE:SD), together with its subsidiaries, explores for and produces oil and natural gas properties primarily in the Mid-Continent region of the United States.
