Recent government data showed a large drop in crude inventories, which created a spike in crude futures and boosted the exchange traded fund (ETF) Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) earlier this week. XLE reached a high of $75.33 in intraday trading on Wednesday, after the Energy Information Administration reported a decline in crude stocks of 5.3 million barrels in the latest week, following a 1.8 million barrel increase the previous week, reports Tomi Kilgore for Thomson Financial. XLE has since risen to $76.78 and is up 29.3% year-to-date. Other energy ETFs that also saw a lift include Vanguard Energy ETF (VDE) and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Energy Sector Index Fund (IYE).
The most heavily-weighted company in XLE is Exxon Mobile (XOM) at 21.0%, other top holdings include Chevron (CVX) at 13.1% and ConocoPhillips (COP) at 9.5%.
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