Four Stocks for Rallying Crude Oil

Crude oil, like other commodities, has regularly seen periods of increased volatility. Despite this uncertainty, in recent weeks the price of oil has been on a steady rise. Oil was trading near $52 a barrel only three years ago. Today, it is trading near $107 per barrel.

Given this unequivocal increase in oil prices, here are a few equities investors may wish to take a look at:

SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Explore & Prod. XOP

Although there are a multitude reasons as to why oil prices have been fluctuating so drastically, the oil producers maintain a large presence in the market.

Independent oil and gas producers, such as Exxon Mobil XOM (700+ million barrels produced worldwide each year), may be able to lock in profits in this economy. In addition to the possibility of offering large returns to shareholders, independent companies frequently incur fewer costs than their counterparts. Regardless of the going rate for crude oil, these companies tend to produce oil at constant costs. When oil prices increase, the profits each independent producer makes tends to increase.

The Oil & Gas Explore & Product ETF is designed to track the oil and gas exploration and production industry in the S&P. This could be an interesting consideration for traders looking at the independent oil and gas production sub-industry.

PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy ETF PBW

As fortunate as the current situation is for the big oil producers, most people would find the unrelenting increase in oil prices undesirable. When such an increase in prices is coupled with stagnant income growth, consumers may become disgruntled.

However, new modes of energy are being found and put into use at an increasing rate. Although some of these companies have struggled, people may become more open to the idea of solar, wind, electric and nuclear energy in the face of spiking oil prices.

WilderHill Clean Energy ETF is an ETF that tracks prominent green and renewable energy technologies. Year-to-date, this ETF is up over 22%. Among its top 10 holdings are: Amyris AMRS, Solazyme SZYM and Cosan CZZ.

Delta Air Lines DAL

Remarkably, on average, oil costs now comprise 30 – 50 % of airline's expenses. Unsurprisingly, this increase of over 20% in resource allocation towards oil began right when oil prices were on their way up. If oil prices continue to climb, shares of Delta may trade lower. In fact, airlines across the board could be hit on rising crude prices.

General Motors Company GM

Currently, shares of the automaker are trading just below $26. Since its IPO, GM is under performing when comparing it to the broader S&P 500 (-19.71% in the last year alone). Although GM has made inroads into producing more fuel efficient vehicles like the Volt and the Cruze, the automaker could see sales of its larger vehicles decline.