Why Oil Stocks Are Soaring Today

Oil prices are bounding higher on Tuesday, with WTI, the leading U.S. oil benchmark price, surging more than 4% to nearly $45 a barrel by 10:45 a.m. EST on Tuesday. That pushed WTI to its highest level since August. Fueling the rally in oil prices was news this week that a third vaccine against COVID-19 had an efficacy rate of up to 90% in a late-stage clinical trial. That's driving optimism that the global economy can quickly normalize in the coming months, which would drive up demand for crude oil.

The surge in oil prices is propelling oil stocks today. Industry behemoths ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) both rallied more than 5% in early-morning trading. Meanwhile, shares of smaller oil producers like Apache (NASDAQ: APA), Centennial Resource Development (NASDAQ: CDEV), and QEP Resources (NYSE: QEP) all surged more than 10% at one point on Tuesday.