May 18 (Reuters) - Texas has joined the crowd of Gulf of Mexico states to file suit against BP Plc, Halliburton Co and others for their role in one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history.

The 1000 point rally. To finish off yet another week of gains, the S&P 500 closed at 1666. Why does that number mean so much? Just over 4 years ago the S&P was 666 - a cool 1000 S&P points in 4 years and 3 months; remarkable really. These last 100 points have come almost at a breakneck pace; in about 4 weeks. While Wednesday and Thursday brought us a bevy of poor economic news (which the market mostly brushed aside), Friday there were some good data points. And when you cannot get the market to go down on bad news, you can see what happens when there is good news. The S&P 500 gained 1.03% and the NASDAQ 0.97%; much of this came in the last hour or so as the market has been rallying almost every session after 3 PM. It is now up 17 of the past 21 sessions and 10 of the past 12.

Original post: STTG Market Recap May 17, 2013

OUTLOOK Crude Oil Record-high U.S. crude stocks, a struggling European economy, worries about...

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The deadline for claims against BP Plc in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is 11 months away, but the man responsible for paying the claims said on Thursday he is already bracing for a late surge in filings.

Take a look at some of Friday's midday movers:

The International Energy Agency said this week that a “supply shock” will essentially change the way the oil market works. It also opens up a lot of opportunities for U.S. companies.

The ratings of six Energy Services stocks are down this week, according to the Portfolio Grader database. Each of these rates a "D" ("sell") or "F" overall ("strong sell").

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Natural gas production companies have slowed down production as low prices combined with lacking infrastructure hurts profitability. But the pipeline problem could soon ease...

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