What's happening: Shares of offshore drilling contractor Seadrill Ltd. (SDRL) jumped 11% when the market opened this morning before settling down. However, shares were still up more than 7% at the time of this writing. Fueling the jump was today's relief rally in the market and in the price of oil, both of which were up more than 2% by midmorning.
Why it's happening: Today's relief rally aside, there's no real news driving today's surge in Seadrill. That said, news is on the way, as the company is expected to report second-quarter results this Thursday. It is a key report for the company, as it will need to show that it has adequate access to capital to fund its newbuild program while also pairing down its large debt load.
Also of importance will be the company's market outlook for the second half of the year as well as what it sees ahead for 2016. Last quarter, the company said that it was taking a cautious approach to 2015 and that there were indications that 2016 would be a challenging year. Any changes to this outlook, for better or for worse, could have a big impact on the stock price later this week.
