Shares of oil and gas companies were taking a broad beating ahead of Friday’s open, as growing concerns of a coming recession has sent crude oil futures sinking toward an eight-month low. The SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF slumped 3.2% in premarket trading, with all 21 components selling off, as crude futures shed 3.4% and while futures for the S&P 500 fell 1.4%. Within energy ETF, the biggest decliners were shares of Marathon Oil Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. , which both fell 4.0%. Among the more-active components, shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp. slid 3.5% and Exxon Mobil Corp. declined 2.9%. The best performer was Williams Companies Inc.’s stock , which gave up 2.3%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.