The Single Most Important Oil Stock Chart You May Ever See

The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has wreaked havoc on the oil and gas industry. As of this writing, oil prices are down more than 60% from the 2020 peak as global oil demand has crashed under efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. Simply put, the oil patch is in chaos, with global oil production likely to outpace demand for months to come.

Oil stocks have taken an absolute pounding. As a group, they're still well below 2020 highs, while the S&P 500 has recovered a substantial portion of its losses. As a result of the sharp bounce-back for a large portion of the market, many investors are now looking at oil stocks as a place to find opportunities for profit. At this writing, the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEMKT: XLE) is down 36%, the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Explor & Prodtn ETF (NYSEMKT: XOP) is down 44%, and the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Svcs ETF (NYSEMKT: XES) is down almost 65%.

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