Here’s Why Traders Are Closely Watching Honeywell, United Technologies, Petrobras and Two Other Stocks

Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR), SM Energy Co (NYSE:SM), and Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL) are higher on the back of surging WTI and Brent prices. As of 12:31 Eastern time, WTI futures are 2.7% in the green while Brent futures are 2.2% higher as sentiment around the commodity improved due to some comments made by Vladimir Putin. The Russian president commented:

“Russia is ready to join in joint measures to limit output and calls on other oil exporters to do the same. We think that a freeze or even a cut in oil production is probably the only proper decision to preserve stability in the global energy market.”

Given that Russia is the largest producer of crude in the world, Putin’s words matter. Any cut or freeze by Russia will make OPEC’s goal of stabilizing the oil market considerably easier.

In terms of company-specific news, Petrobras is trending after Bloomberg reported that several international oil companies have reached out to Brazil about potentially having more exposure to some off-shore pre-salt assets/projects. Brazil’s government last week removed a regulation that required Petrobras control operations in new pre-salt projects. The removed regulation could help Petrobras sell more assets at better prices.

Of the three companies, the smart money liked Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) the most, as 23 out of the 749 top funds that we track owned shares of the Brazilian company at the end of June. Meanwhile, 20 funds held shares of SM Energy Co (NYSE:SM) and 17 funds were long Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL).

Disclosure: None