Why These 2 Big Oil Stocks Jumped in October

Shares of BP (NYSE: BP) and Total SA (NYSE: TOT) jumped in late October to finish the month up 5.8% and 4.1%, respectively. That handily beat the performance of their U.S.-based peers ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), which finished up just 1.7%, and Chevron (NYSE: CVX), which actually finished down 1.4%.

Luckily for investors, the reasons are pretty straightforward.

In October, the stock market was kinder to oil majors from overseas than to their U.S. industry counterparts. Image source: Getty Images.

Source: Fool.com