Valero Energy Shares Jump 284% on 60% Volume Spike Ranking 170th in Market Activity Amid California's Refinery Agreement Talks

. 9, . The stock’s move follows developments in California, where state legislators are negotiating a potential financial agreement to keep the company’s Benicia refinery operational.

, which Valero plans to shut down by April. The proposed deal, discussed as recently as the weekend prior, aims to prevent closures that have plagued the state’s refining sector. Local leaders have emphasized the economic impact of a shutdown, .

Governor has advocated for collaboration with energy firms to stabilize fuel supplies in California, where gasoline prices often rank highest nationally. The state has also abandoned plans to impose profit caps on refiners—a policy linked to recent plant closures. Valero has not publicly commented on the negotiations, nor have representatives from Newsom’s office or legislative leaders responded to inquiries outside regular business hours.

To run this back-test accurately, I need to pin down a few practical details about the trading rules and the data universe. Below are the key assumptions I would normally make, together with some suggested defaults. Please let me know if any of these should be changed: 1. Market universe • Default: all primary-listed U.S. common stocks on NYSE + NASDAQ (≈ 6,000 symbols). • Alternative: restrict to a standard universe such as the Russell 3000 or S&P 1500 to reduce data size. 2. Ranking rule (top-500 by daily volume) • Rank by the previous day’s reported dollar volume (shares × close price) so that the list is known before the next day’s open. 3. Execution price & timing • Enter all positions at the next day’s open; exit them at that day’s close (1-day holding period). • Equal-weight each of the 500 positions. 4. Transaction costs & slippage • Default: ignore costs (simplest). • Optional: apply a flat cost per trade or a bps deduction if you’d like. 5. Back-test window • Start: 2022-01-03 (first trading day of 2022). • End: latest available data (2025-09-09). If these assumptions work for you I can proceed; otherwise let me know any changes you’d like—especially to the market universe, entry/exit timing, or whether to include transaction costs.