Oil firms rise as Big Tech earnings lift sentiment

S&P 500 energy index up 1.5%, tracking prices of oilO/R

Brent crude futures LCOc1 up 1.2% at $61.77/barrel; U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 rise 0.8% to $58.68/barrel

Oil prices rose after strong earnings from Meta and Microsoft supported U.S. equities and offset concerns about the U.S. economy and the prospect of higher OPEC+ oil output

"It (oil's rebound) can be attributed to the jump in equities due to attractive earnings from Microsoft MSFT.O and Meta META.O and possibly the postponement of the next round of the U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations," says Tamas Varga, analyst at oil broker PVM

Energy majors Exxon XOM.N and Chevron CVX.N up ~1% and 1.1% respectively

Diamondback Energy FANG.O , EQT Corp EQT.N , Devon Energy DVN.N and APA Corp APA.O up between 3% and 5.6%; among top percentage gainers on the energy index

Refiners Marathon Petroleum MPC.N up 1.4%; Valero VLO.N and Phillips 66 PSX.N up marginally

Oilfield services companies Halliburton HAL.N rises 2%, Baker Hughes BKR.O up 2.3% and SLB SLB.N gains 2.4%