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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery added 28 cents to $32.15 on the New York Merc, while Brent for April added $1.14 to $34.41 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $12.55 to WTI ($19.60), up from a discount of $12.70. Natural gas for March lost 0.4 cent to $1.778. The TSX energy index added 1.91 points to close at 150.54.

EnCana Corp. (ECA) raced up 94 cents to $5.09 on 30 million shares, after releasing fourth quarter results that were better than analysts had predicted, and announcing a steep budget cut and layoffs. It was also widely, and misleadingly, reported that the company is cutting its dividend. A Financial Post headline this morning read, "EnCana Corp. to cut 20 [per cent] of its work force and slashes dividend as losses mount," while a Bloomberg one read, "EnCana Makes Deeper Budget and Job Cuts While Cutting Payout," and BNN piped in that EnCana "plans to cut its dividend by nearly four-fifths." Even analysts were not immune; Scotiabank's Global Banking and Markets report this morning said EnCana "cut its quarterly dividend again, this time to 1.5 U.S. cents per share from seven U.S. cents per share." This appears to be based on EnCana's brief statement that it will pay a 1.5-U.S.-cent quarterly dividend on March 31. This works out to six U.S. cents annualized. EnCana was previously paying out 28 U.S. cents annualized (seven U.S. cents a quarter, as Scotiabank noted), but it announced on Dec. 14 that it would "reset" this to six U.S. cents for 2016. Declaring a 1.5-U.S.-cent quarterly dividend makes the "reset" official, but does not indicate a new cut. Some reporters evidently forgot about the December announcement (despite covering it at the time), and while Scotiabank seemed to remember something, its report still incorrectly stated that EnCana has now cut its dividend "again." (The "again" would not apply to the December cut as that was the first one since 2013.)

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