S&P 500 top movers: Energy stocks post strong gains

• S&P 500 is struggling to find direction on Thursday.
• Energy stocks rise as OPEC+ pledges to improve compliance with output cuts.

Major equity indexes in the US started the day little changed on Thursday and remain relatively calm near opening levels. As of writing, the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged on the day at 3,110 points.

Earlier in the day, headlines coming out of the OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meeting showed that the committee has not recommended an extension to the current output cuts. However, members of the group, namely Iraq and Kazakhstan, pledged to improve compliance with the agreed production reductions and provided a boost to crude oil prices.

With the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gaining more than 2% on the day, the S&P 500 Energy Index is up nearly 1% on the day as the top-performing major sector.

S&P 500 top movers

Energy companies HollyFrontier Corp (HFC), Phillips 66 (PSX), Valero Energy Corp (VLO) and Oracle Corp (ORCL) are up between 5.1% and 3.6% as top-gainers.

On the other hand, pressured by price cuts announced by Cowen and Company, Baird and Oppenheimer, Biogen Inc (BIIB) is down 7.5% on the day at $260.44.