Another Blow to the Energy Sector

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse for energy stocks, they took another beating yesterday. Light, sweet crude dropped nearly 6 percent, to $37.65 a barrel, and several oil & gas stocks plummeted by 10 percent or more on the day. What happened?

• OPEC announced Friday that it was going to continue producing oil at near-record levels, despite the glutted market.
• Weather forecasts released Monday continued to show above-average temperatures in the next two weeks, putting a damper on expected purchases of heating fuel.
• Many oil and gas companies had taken on large debt loads to fund domestic drilling projects when prices were higher; oil companies with heavy debt loads saw their stocks hit especially hard in the downturn.