Shale drillers’ newfound commitment to production discipline appears to be paying off as crude plunges toward a bear market. While West Texas Intermediate crude is poised for the biggest monthly loss since the beginning of the coronovirus pandemic, its collapse isn’t dragging down equities the way it used to. The S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF is notably outperforming the U.S. benchmark, and three of the top 10 stocks in the S&P 500 Index this year are oil companies: Devon Energy Corp . Marathon Oil Corp. and Diamondback Energy Inc. “It looks like the market is starting to reward better behavior by producers,” said Josh Young, chief investment officer at Bison Interests, a Houston-based money manager. “They’re not getting punished as much on the way down.” Publicly listed oil producers have drastically changed their business model since Covid-19, slowing production growth and harvesting more cash flow to […]