Oil price jump over $ 50 as food delivery ,supermarkets stocks show promise: NYSE

The price of crude jumped sharply on Tuesday.

At one point, futures for the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude price topped $50 per barrel, a level not seen since February 2020, before settling down to $49.93.

Brent Crude, meanwhile, ended the day at $53.60.

Saudi Arabia had earlier announced that it will unilaterally enact an oil production cut, as a part of an agreement reached by OPEC and other major oil-producing nations. The Middle Eastern country will cut off 1 million barrels per day from its production target of roughly 9.1 million.

At the same time, Russia and Kazakhstan will enact modest increases, with the former bumping up its output by 65,000 barrels per day in both February and March, and the latter increasing its own by around 10,000.

Saudi Arabia and Russia are at odds regarding production. Russia would like to see this ramped up overall, in order to stay competitive with cost-effective shale oil producers in the U.S. On the other hand, the Saudis believe that capping production will stave off price erosion.

As a result, the top oil stocks rose notably in trading in the wake of the Saudi announcement.

The rally was broad throughout the sector and frequently vigorous, with Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) closing 10% higher on Tuesday to lead all S&P 500 index components.

Non-U.S. companies also did well; BP (NYSE: BP), and Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) both saw gains of around 7% on the day.

Meanwhile, food delivery company DoorDash (NYSE: DASH) has apparently landed a deal with Albertsons Companies (NYSE: ACI), a major grocery and supermarket company whose chains include more than 2,700 stores, making it second in size only to Kroger (NYSE: KR) in the USA.

Albertsons operates approximately 18 different chains, with major names among these including Safeway, Vons, Shaw’s, Albertsons, Acme Markets, and Jewel-Osco.

According to reporting by SFGATE, Albertsons will start using DoorDash’s delivery services for Safeway and Vons locations on Feb. 27. The supermarket company will also begin laying off delivery drivers for these chains.

An Albertson’s representative, Wendy Gutshall, said the move “will allow us to compete in the growing home delivery market more effectively” and that the new strategy resulted from “a great deal of consideration.”