NEW YORK, Feb 13, 2026, 05:53 EST — Premarket
- Marathon Petroleum dropped 5.1% Thursday—just a day after hitting its 52-week high.
- Oil fell close to 3% in the last session, pressured by mounting supply concerns while tensions linked to Iran eased.
- The U.S. CPI lands at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the upcoming U.S. fuel-inventory report has been pushed back to Feb. 19.
Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corp slid 5.1% to $198.02 on Thursday, snapping back from the 52-week high notched just a day prior, as the broader market turned lower. Exxon Mobil gave up 3.0%, Chevron lost 1.8%, and Valero Energy shed 3.4% during the session. (MarketWatch)
Timing is key here. Refiners, often seen as a straightforward bet on stable U.S. fuel demand, can still behave like classic cyclicals once market risk appetite fades.
Margin is the big variable for Marathon. Refiners pocket the so-called “crack spread,” the difference between crude oil input costs and what they can fetch for gasoline and diesel. That gap can swing sharply if there’s a move in crude prices, inventories, or demand.
Stocks in the U.S. took a sharp hit Thursday, with tech dragging the market lower as caution set in before Friday’s inflation numbers. The S&P 500 lost 1.57%, while the Nasdaq dropped 2.03%. “You still have this anti-AI trade going on,” said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder, noting a clear move toward defensive names. (Reuters)
Oil pressured energy stocks again. Brent inched up 0.4% to $67.81 a barrel on Friday, recovering a bit after losing 2.7% the day before. WTI added the same percentage, reaching $63.09, coming off Thursday’s 2.8% slide. “Downside momentum is slowing in the near term,” said XS.com analyst Linh Tran, noting prices stayed resilient despite a string of bearish headlines. (Reuters)
Even as criticism mounts, there are still backers for refining margins. PBF Energy surprised with a quarterly profit on Thursday, crediting a boost from cheaper crude and stronger refining spreads. CEO Matthew Lucey said, “many recent headwinds are now converting to tailwinds for refiners.” The company highlighted ongoing limits on global refining capacity—a point echoed by competitors. According to Reuters, both Marathon and Phillips 66 reported improved margins in their latest earnings. (Reuters)
Marathon’s earnings release earlier this month kicked off the surge that carried shares to this week’s top. On Feb. 3, the company surprised Wall Street with fourth-quarter profit that topped forecasts, as Reuters pointed to a 44% leap in refining margins. (Reuters)
The next big macro data point hits before the market opens. January’s U.S. Consumer Price Index is expected at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters are looking for a 0.3% gain over December, with annual inflation slowing to 2.5%. (Reuters)
Should inflation come in above forecasts, traders may push back their bets on rate cuts even further. The usual casualties? Shares tied closely to the economy, regardless of whether any new developments have actually hit those companies.
For refiners, the negatives are pretty clear. Should gasoline and diesel prices drop more quickly than crude, the crack spread shrinks, and with it, profits. There’s also the operational side to consider. Outages or scheduled maintenance might squeeze supply, but they just as easily cut into a refiner’s throughput.
Traders eye the upcoming U.S. fuel inventory numbers for direction. The Energy Information Administration pushed its Weekly Petroleum Status Report to Thursday, Feb. 19, with release times set for 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. ET, after a federal holiday shuttered government offices on Monday, Feb. 16. (Eia)
