energy led the markets for another month the secondbest sp 500 performer just behind consumer discretionary rose 10 in october and added to a 52 gain for the year industry heavyweights chevron and exxon both reported betterthanexpected profits on friday morning thanks to surging oil prices west texas intermediate crude also hit its highest level since october 2014 earlier in the week the sector was again higher monday ahead of a key opec meeting this week where the bloc will decide on future production plans steve chiavarone portfolio manager at federated hermes said the underlying commodity should continue to rise and lift the energy trade even further we had a crazy call at the beginning of the year of 90 for wti and we still think thats where were headed chiavarone told cnbcs trading nation on friday wti crude began the year below 50 and traded monday at 84 a barrel earlier last week it climbed as high as 8541 these highs mark a sharp reversal from plunging oil prices last year – one contract for example went negative for the first time in history for the last seven years any time oil prices got to 60 the texans came in they turned on the spigot and it moved you back down to 40 chiavarone said its harder for them to do that theres underinvestment over the last several years there was no demand last year regulatory changes with the new administration now youve got activist investors disincentivizing exploration and production and so all that together means that that texas supply isnt just flooding into the market as for the opecs meeting this thursday chiavarone does not foresee a change in strategy that would herald a major shift in oils upward trend we think opec is going to manage a steady move higher in oil prices to refill their coffers after years of very low oil prices so we think this march higher continues and we think thats ultimately good for the energy sector he said craig johnson chief market strategist at piper sandler also sees more gains ahead for the group he said the technical setup for the xle energy etf looks constructive if you look at the chart on a fiveyear basis youve got a great downtrend reversal a series of higher highs and higher lows now getting made with this particular setup and from our perspective any sort of little shortterm dip in here wed be buying johnson said during the same interview