Oil

Crude prices fell 2 percent on Monday as data showing higher Middle East oil production and record hedge fund buying sparked profit-taking on last month's outsized rally.

Oilfield services provider Halliburton and smaller rival Baker Hughes announced the termination of their $28 billion merger deal on Sunday after opposition from U.S. and European antitrust regulators.

The slim gains on the benchmark S&P 500 index this month belies the stark difference in performance between April's top and bottom performers.

Oil prices edged to new 2016 highs on Friday, lifted by a weak dollar and falling production in the United States, although a looming rise in Middle East output capped gains.

U.S. stocks closed down on Thursday as the Bank of Japan's shocking call to cap monetary stimulus continued to rattle investors while a late day decline in Apple shares on remarks from billionaire investor Carl Icahn added to selling pressure.

ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. independent oil company, reported a quarterly loss, compared with a year-earlier profit, and further lowered its 2016 budget as the slump in crude prices sapped profitability.

Oil futures steadied after setting a 2016 high on Thursday as traders locked in profits, though analysts said supply disruptions, strong investor appetite and a weakening dollar could push prices higher soon.

Oil prices retreated from 2016 highs on Wednesday after U.S. crude inventories built to record highs, with the market remaining in positive territory on bets that an upcoming U.S. central bank policy statement will keep the dollar weak.

With oil prices on the rise, BP Capital chairman T. Boone Pickens weighs in on why he sees prices continuing to increase, what is needed to boost the U.S. economy and his thoughts on the 2016 presidential race.

Hess and ExxonMobil are among the big energy companies taking an earnings hit.

U.S. oil producer Hess reported a bigger quarterly loss amid lower oil prices that have eroded oil producers' profits.

S&P stripped the oil and gas company of its pristine AAA credit rating on Tuesday, but views on the implications of the move are mixed.

Oil markets rose about 3 percent on Tuesday as a tumbling dollar boosted commodities denominated in the greenback after bets the Federal Reserve will hold U.S. interest rates where they are.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said on Tuesday it had cut Exxon Mobil Corp's corporate credit rating to "AA+" from "AAA," citing the impact of low oil prices.

BP said on Tuesday it could cut capital spending further after reporting an 80 percent drop in profits in the first quarter of the year, when oil prices touched a near 13-year low.

Time to take a fresh look at MLPs....