Rich get Richer
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) beat forecasts on Thursday with a 36 percent rise in second-quarter profits, boosting its shares, as high oil prices more than compensated for disappointing production news.
Investors were also cheered by Shell's reaffirmation that it was sticking to its 2006 and 2007 spending plans, despite rampant sector cost inflation.
ConocoPhillips also boosted quarterly profit, making more than $2B more than in the same period in 2005.
With that, and the previous news on BP, I'll bet ExxonMobil and Chevron/Texaco turn in bumper quarterly earnings reports too. Two years ago would have been a great time to buy Oil Futures. Thankfully that kind of investment is out of reach of normal people and most mutual funds. Only for the big boys, you know?