It was another absolutely wild week in the market. The Dow opened the week down more than 1,000 points on Monday, only to recover by the end of the week. Meanwhile, crude oil also enjoyed quite a recovery, as it bottomed out on Monday below $38 a barrel only to recover past $45 by Friday.
This caused extreme volatility among energy stocks, with dozens surging by double digits by the end of the week. The biggest movers, according to S&P Capital IQ data, were Peabody Energy (BTU +0.00%), Vanguard Natural Resources (NASDAQ: VNR), and Cameron International (CAM +0.00%).
This is Peabody Energy's second-straight week as one of highest-gaining energy stocks. It built upon last week's rumors that it was considering moves outside of bankruptcy to fix its balance sheet as more positive rumors surfaced about the company. This time, it was a Bloomberg report that Peabody Energy had hired a bank to advise the company on how it should restructure its $6.3 billion in debt. Those options are said to include debt-for-equity swaps or convertible notes, and would be made outside of declaring bankruptcy.
On the other hand, Vanguard Natural Resources' big move this week wasn't related to any news, or even rumors. Instead, the massive spike in oil prices caused it, and other upstream MLPs, to surge. While some of that sector's move higher was due to short covering, investors are also starting to see a lot of potential value in beaten down upstream MLPs like Vanguard Natural Resources.
Finally, Cameron International's surge was due to the announcement that it had agreed to be acquired by Schlumberger (SLB +5.48%) in a $14.8 billion deal. That represented a hefty 56.3% premium to Cameron International's stock price prior to the deal's announcement.
To learn even more about why these catalysts caused the stocks to move so sharply this week, check out the following slideshow.
