Sector Update: Energy Stocks Rise in Thursday Afternoon Trading

Energy stocks rose Thursday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index adding 0.3% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) up 0.1%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index fell 0.9%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index gained 0.3%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was little changed at $82.83 a barrel, erasing earlier losses, while the global benchmark Brent crude contract rose 0.2% to $88.23 a barrel.

US natural gas stocks rose by 92 billion cubic feet in the week ended April 19, above the 83 billion increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following an increase of 50 billion in the previous week.

Henry Hub natural gas futures fell 1.3% to $1.632 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, TechnipFMC FTI shares rose 3.7% after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results.

Hawaiian Electric Industries HE is weighing a potential sale of American Savings Bank FSB, among other options, Bloomberg reported. Hawaiian Electric shares dropped 4.1%.

Hess HES reported Q1 earnings of $3.16 per diluted share, up from $1.13 a year earlier. The shares rose 1.1%.