NEW YORK, March 2, 2026, 16:02 EST — After-hours
- SLB shares barely budged in late trading Monday.
- Crude’s rally is forcing traders to rethink energy risk, with inflation spillover back in play.
- Attention shifts to shipping activity and the late-April results update from SLB.
SLB Ltd shares barely budged late Monday, ticking up to $51.34. The day’s range ran from $50.94 to $51.63.
The flat trading matters here: oilfield services stocks, SLB included, aren’t simply shadowing crude prices. Their real lever is energy producers’ willingness to boost spending on drilling and well equipment, not every uptick in oil. Higher prices can prompt more orders — but sometimes, they just bring more hesitation instead.
Oil and gas prices shot up as Israeli and U.S. strikes targeting Iran—and Tehran’s counterattacks—threw shipping into disarray and triggered select shutdowns across the region, according to Reuters. Crude prices spiked early in the week, the supply picture suddenly uncertain and markets jittery. Reuters
Market attention is locked on the Strait of Hormuz right now, with more than a fifth of the world’s oil passing through its waters. Analysts expect prices to remain high over the next several days. Citi sees Brent trading somewhere between $80 and $90 this week. OPEC+, the alliance of OPEC and its partners, plans a 206,000 barrel-a-day production boost for April. “The impact on oil price would escalate rapidly,” Macquarie Group’s global energy strategist Vikas Dwivedi said, noting that any shutdown stretching past a couple of weeks would hit even harder. Reuters
The divergence in equities surfaced fast. Exxon rose 1.2%, Chevron tacked on 1.5%. VanEck Oil Services ETF lost 0.3%. Halliburton ended unchanged; Baker Hughes dropped 0.6%.
U.S. stocks managed to recover from earlier declines, with buyers returning despite elevated crude prices and lingering volatility. “Market participants think this is all just temporary,” Smead Capital Management founder and chairman Bill Smead said. Reuters
SLB’s most recent major catalyst came in January, with its fourth-quarter earnings outpacing forecasts and the company laying out plans to return upwards of $4 billion to shareholders in 2026 via dividends and buybacks. CEO Olivier Le Peuch flagged a year-over-year drop in North America land activity, signaling a rougher stretch ahead for the U.S. onshore market. Reuters
Right now, traders are working the lag. Oil holding at these levels and a bit of budget breathing room from customers could let service firms recover, though they usually wait for more obvious cues—rig counts, completions, project awards—before making moves, unlike producers.
The risks cut both ways. Should tensions ease and crude prices retreat, traders could see the “energy hedge” unravel in a hurry. If the conflict persists, businesses might continue delaying purchases, even as logistics, costs, and contract worries steadily pile up.
Keep an eye on headlines about tanker movements and whether the oil shock is creeping into upstream spending. For SLB, the main event is its next quarterly report, likely dropping around April 24. That’s when SLB will give investors the rundown on demand, margins, and what’s happening with its payout plans. zacks.com
