Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corp. shot up 7.1% in active afternoon trade Wednesday, putting them on track for their best performance since March 29, as upbeat government crude production data helped propel crude price to a third-straight gain. Trading volume in the oil and gas exploration company’s stock climbed to 33.6 million shares, already above the full-day average of 32.6 million shares, and enough to make the stock the New York Stock Exchange’s second-most actively traded. Crude oil futures rallied 2.2%, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said domestic crude supplies increased 5.9 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 8, well below forecasts of a rise of 10.1 million barrels. The correlation coefficient between Chesapeake’s stock and continuous crude oil futures was 0.903 over the past five years, where 1.000 means they move exactly in sync. Chesapeake’s stock, which closed at a 17-month low as recently as Aug. 30, has still tumbled 24% over the past three months. In comparison, the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has slipped 1.9% the past three months while the S&P 500 has gained 2.3%.
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