Whiting Petroleum Shares Dropped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Whiting Petroleum (NYS: WLL) fell 12% in intraday trading today as the market sold off oil and gas explorers and producers.

So what: Oil is down more than 2% today, and the market is concerned about a Greek default affecting economic growth going forward. Add all of this together and we have a massive selling of any company related to the oil and gas sector.

Now what: The sell-off has gained momentum throughout the day, and the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (ASE: XOP) has fallen 6% as of this writing. That's a massive drop for an ETF with a large number of stocks in it, but it shows how widespread the selling is. These stocks will eventually rebound, but calling a bottom is a risky proposition with the market in full on freak-out mode right now.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Travis Hoium does not have a position in any company mentioned. You can follow Travis on Twitter at @FlushDrawFool, check out his personal stock holdings or follow his CAPS picks at TMFFlushDraw.Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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