Crude Oil Prices Stumble

Energy stocks finished mostly to the upside. The CBOE Oil Index climbed 0.46% to 690.04. Chevron (CVX Quote), ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil(XOM Quote) all ended fractionally higher.

Italian integrated oil and gas company Eni SpA (E Quote) announced that it will spend $4.8 billion to acquire the Gulf of Mexico assets of Dominion Resources (D Quote). The purchase will increase Eni's oil production in the Gulf of Mexico from 36,000 barrels of oil per day to more than 110,000 barrels of oil per day by the second half of 2007, according to a press release.

Shares of Eni were down 0.8% to $66.24 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Elsewhere, electricity provider FPL Group (FPL Quote) announced first-quarter net income of $150 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with $251 million, or 64 cents a share, during the same period a year ago. The reduction in earnings was primarily due to a $126 million loss from nonqualifying hedge positions.

FPL's revenue declined to $3.08 billion from $3.6 billion in the first quarter a year ago. However, the firm's stock rose 0.7% to $64.37.

Among analyst actions, Wachovia upgraded Allegheny Energy (AYE Quote) to outperform from market perform, sending the stock 0.9% higher to $53.46.

Enbridge Energy (EEP Quote) was downgraded by Wachovia to market perform from outperform, and its shares were 2.3% lower at $59.81.