Oil Trading Higher in Early Going

Crude oil, which has been plunging in recent weeks, is moving higher early in Friday's trading session. At last check, NYMEX crude futures were up a little less than 1% at $78.92. Crude had been trading solidly above the $100 level as recently as early May. Negative economic sentiment, a falling stock market, and continued fears over the euro zone sovereign debt crisis have catalyzed the massive sell-off in crude. On Friday, the United States Oil Fund ETF

was trading up 0.68% to $29.66. Over the last 3 months, the USO has lost more than 26%. The energy sector as a whole is underperforming the S&P 500, despite the jump in oil prices. The S&P 500 had gained around 0.41% while energy was trading up 0.27% in the first hour of trade.