Oil, Gas Funds Show Signs of Re-Energizing as Investors Hedge Their Bets
Oil and gas funds are coming back to life. After spending several years near death's door, the energy funds are feeling the healing power of heavier demand and rising prices for the two depressed fuels.</br></br>Oil stocks, especially, got a shot in the arm last week when reports circulated in the oil markets that Saudi Arabia had opted to let prices drift higher.</br></br>The panic to buy oil stocks lasted only a day, but it produced enough adrenalin among mutual fund investors to reawaken their interest in the energy sector as a hedge against inflation.</br></br>"Every dog has its day," Edward T. Shadek said good-naturedly, reflecting on the 3 percent leap in the value of his Boston-based fund, Putnam Energy-Resources Trust.</br></br>The surge boosted his fund's gain this year to 9.8 percent, but much of the increase soon disappeared. Oil stocks fell back to lower levels as traders decided that the Saudis, whatever they were thinking, were not likely to create any major oil price shock.