Liam Denning, Columnist

With Energy Stocks, It’s the Volatility That Kills You

The price of oil is back up to $90 a barrel, but the current rally can’t be expected to last.

February 16, 2022 at 12:00 PM UTC

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy. A former banker, he edited the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote the Financial Times’s Lex column.

Oil is up.
Photographer: David McNew/Newsmakers

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For beaten-down energy bulls, the recent surge in oil and gas stocks — just as the technology darlings sell off — can feel like an overdue reversion toward not merely the mean but cosmic justice. Or maybe it’s just that oil is back above $90 a barrel. Helpful as that is, however, it also presents a problem.

Some history: Thirty-odd years ago, the S&P 500 was an oilier pool than it is today.