You don’t have to be a Pennsylvania farmer (or a Texas rancher) to get in on the shale boom. Plenty of publicly traded stocks let you do just that. But before investing, be aware of the perils: the political risk created by the controversy over fracking, the chance that production estimates may be overstated (something that the Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly looking into), and the possibility that natural gas prices will stay at current low levels. Read more »

Crude oil climbed to the highest level in two weeks as the leaders of Germany and France pledged to stem the European sovereign-debt crisis.

Futures rose as much as 3.8 percent after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy said yesterday they will deliver a plan to recapitalize the region’s banks and address the Greek crisis by Nov. 3. The euro surged against the dollar after the announcement. U.S. employers added more workers in September than forecast, a report showed Oct. 7. Read more »

U.S. active rigs rose by 22 to 2,012 this week, up 20 percent from a year ago and the highest in more than three years, according to Baker Hughes. Oil rigs were up 10 to 1,070 and natural gas rigs added 12 to 935. Texas gained eight rigs to 912, and Oklahoma gained six to 202. In the Barnett Shale, active rigs fell by eight to 56, according to RigData. Leading counties were Tarrant, 20 rigs; Wise, seven; and Denton and Johnson, each with six.

After following the equity markets and the euro down on Monday and Tuesday, the oil markets reversed on Wednesday climbing 5.3 percent in NY to close at $79.68 and 3 percent in London to close at $102.73. Major impetus for the price reversal was an unexpected drop of 4.7 million barrels in US crude inventories vs. an anticipated gain of 1.5 million barrels. The move was supported by a rise in the equity markets and a pair of economic reports that were slightly better than expected. Read more »