MW These energy stocks could see gains for years from Middle East supply disruptions
By Philip van Doorn
Also in Weekend Reads: A retirement-planning mistake and how to correct it, deeper thinking about AI, and advice from the Moneyist
Cheniere Energy is the largest U.S. producer and exporter of liquid natural gas.
Nearly three weeks after the U.S. and Israel starting their attack on Iran, the target country's government has been able to continue damaging surrounding countries' energy production, storage and export facilities.
Over the short term, it hasn't been a surprise to see oil prices soaring. Early on Friday, continuous front-month contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil $(WTI)$ (CL00) were trading for $95.95 a barrel, up 43% from a settlement price of $67.02 on Feb. 27, the day before the attack on Iran began. On the same basis Brent crude (BRN00) on the ICE Futures Europe exchange traded for $110.17 a barrel early (U.S. Eastern time) Friday, up 51% from a Feb. 27 settlement price of $72.87.
Front-month natural-gas contracts (NG00) traded for $3.155 per MMBtu early on Friday, up only 10% from $2.859 on Feb. 27. But shares of Cheniere Energy (LNG) were up nearly 20% from Feb. 27 through Thursday, while Venture Global's $(VG)$ stock was up 47.5% over the same period.
At Thursday's close, Cheniere traded at a forward price/earnings ratio of 19.4, while Venture Global traded at a forward P/E of 15.4. These ratios are Thursday's closing prices divided by consensus 12-month earnings-per-share estimates among analysts polled by LSEG. The valuations compared with weighted forward P/E of 20.2 for the S&P 500 energy sector XX:SP500.10 and 20.8 for the full S&P 500 SPX.
So the share prices for these liquid-natural-gas producers and exporters don't appear to be high on a relative P/E basis.
Claudia Assis explained how the disruption of world's largest liquefied-natural-gas plant in Qatar could set up a long-term expansion opportunity for U.S. liquid-natural-gas exporters.
Related: This commodities strategy can protect you from inflation, scarcity and even price declines
How the spike in oil's price might alter Trump's Iran decisions
In the Commodities Corner column, Myra P. Saefong explained how various efforts by the Trump administration had kept WTI's price from rising as much as that of Brent crude. Then she looked ahead to consider at what point the U.S. president might need to change his Iran policy to limit economic damage at home from energy-price increases.
More coverage of the energy-market disruption:
-- The Iran conflict might take as long as the 2022 'oil shock' to blow over: TS Lombard
-- What is the Jones Act? Trump's waiving the century-old shipping law - and this stock is getting hurt.
-- Asian economies running out of fuel, and time, as the fallout from 'Epic Fury' widens
Why U.S. stocks have held up, and warnings of a significant decline
Following a 16.4% gain in 2025, the S&P 500 was down 3.5% for 2026 through March 19.
Through Thursday, the S&P 500 SPX had declined 4% from the close on Feb. 27. Gordon Gottsegen explained the technical and fundamental factors helping prop up the U.S. stock market, despite the Iran conflict and the disruption of oil transportation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Mark Hulbert: The stock market actually doesn't care as much about oil prices as you think
Investors who were hoping that the Federal Reserve might prop up U.S. markets with another interest-rate cut were disappointed after the latest Federal Open Market Committee's policy meeting concluded on Wednesday.
More coverage of the stock market:
-- Here's what happens after the S&P 500 breaks under the 200-day moving average following a long run
-- The S&P 500 just flashed a bearish sign - but more damage is being done beneath the market's surface
A brutal development for Super Micro's shareholders - and more tech coverage
Investors had a sharp reaction Friday after Super Micro co-founder Wally Liaw was charged with conspiring to skirt a ban on the export of certain Nvidia graphics processing units to China.
Super Micro's stock $(SMCI)$ fell hard on Friday after federal prosecutors charged Wally Liaw - one of the company's co-founders - with conspiring to ship servers illegally to China. According to the indictment, the servers included sophisticated graphics processing units that were made by Nvidia (NVDA) and banned by the federal government from being exported to China.
The latest: Wall Street's biggest questions about Super Micro
Here is more of this week's coverage from MarketWatch's technology team:
-- Micron's stock is spectacularly cheap, as these numbers show
-- These stocks are cheaper ways to invest in Palantir's success
-- Lumentum's new revenue forecast further fuels one of the market's hottest stocks
-- This is Jeff Bezos's plan to rival Elon Musk in the race for space-based data centers
-- Rivian's stock pops as the EV maker becomes the latest to partner with Uber
For investors and traders
Michael Brush shared five challenges to a stock-market recovery after the Iran conflict ends, with different recommendations for long-term investors and traders.
A contrary signal: Why peak uncertainty about the Iran war signals a stock-market rally may be near
Nora Redmond interviewed Beata Manthey, Citigroup's head of European equity strategy, who believes investors should broaden their horizons to invest in this particular industry group.
Retirement mistakes and help with planning
Decisions on when and how to claim Social Security benefits can be complicated for couples.
This week in the Help Me Retire column, Alessandra Malito answered questions from a man whose wife seemed to have made a mistake in claiming her own Social Security benefits instead of higher spousal benefits. Here's what can be done now to increase her benefits.
More: The six biggest changes to Social Security over the past 20 years that affect how much money you'll get in retirement
Early-stage retirement planning: I'm 30 and want to save $420,000 in 10 years. What are my options?
Deep thinking on AI
This year there has been plenty of worry among investors about the threat to software companies from the deployment of generative artificial intelligence by their corporate customers. And there have already been significant layoffs across industries in response to AI developments.
But Charlie Garcia made the case that investors and workers should expect disruption across a wider range of industries. Chances are that he has pointed to industries you haven't expected to be grossly affected by AI.
Garcia summed up the AI threats and opportunities to workers and investors as follows: "If an AI agent can do it for you, a company's competitive edge was never its technology. It was your laziness."
Genna Contino: AI wants to spend your money for you. Should you trust it?
The Moneyist heads back to Florida
Quentin Fottrell is the Moneyist.
Quentin Fottrell - the Moneyist - recently answered questions from a woman concerned about her coming move to Florida, because of a shortage of healthcare providers in the state. This week Fottrell addressed another problem often associated with Florida: How can a family get rid of an unwanted time share and its associated expenses?
More advice from the Moneyist:
-- I opened a 0% credit card to pay $11,000 in vacation debt. What could go wrong? Quite a lot, it seems.
-- 'Six figures are missing': My aunt's attorney took over her bank account. Two random doctors declared her incompetent. How do I fix this?
-- 'It's complicated': My husband, 61, wants to leave me everything. His children will hate me. What should I do?
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-Philip van Doorn
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March 20, 2026 12:17 ET (16:17 GMT)
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