Oil Price Drop Puts Pressure on Energy Stocks

Oil prices took a hit on Monday morning, and energy stocks followed suit. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark fell 2.9% to $97.43 a barrel, while Brent crude dropped 2.9% to $100.84 per barrel. Natural-gas futures also slid 2.2% to $2.85 per 1 million British thermal units.

Commodity-linked funds reflected the move, with the United States Oil Fund (USO) down 3.1% and the United States Natural Gas Fund lower by 0.9%. Despite this, some energy companies made headlines. Brazil's Petrobras announced it would join a new diesel subsidy program for producers and importers, but its stock still fell 0.5% pre-bell.

Similarly, Halliburton, a US oilfield services firm, announced memorandums of understanding with Eneva and WESCA to support oil and gas development in Venezuela, but its shares were down 0.9% premarket. The sector's performance was largely driven by the commodity price, rather than individual company news.