Falling Oil Ignites Broad Selloff

It was red across the board as oil prices continued to fall after crude stockpiles, which according to the EIA were expected to fall by 2.7 million barrels, instead posted a surprise gain of 1.45 million barrels.  Combined with OPEC’s cut in its 2015 demand forecast, oil prices fell to five year lows and dragged all ten equity sectors to losses as well with the S&P 500 Energy sector being the hardest hit down 3.08%.

Market Radar - % Change

After a bounce yesterday, Nymex Crude Oil resumed its freefall settling at a new five year low of $60.94 per barrel down 4.51% or $2.88.  Gold prices also fell as the precious metal shed $2.6 to settle at $1,229.4 per ounce down 0.21%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.51% after losing 268.05 points to close at 17,533.15.  The S&P 500 fell 1.64% or 33.68 points to close at 2,206.14.

The NASDAQ Composite lost 82.44 points or 1.73% to close at 4,684.03.  The NASDAQ 100 was also hard hit falling 1.63% to close at 4.224.87 down 69.8 points.

The Small cap Russell 2000 saw the most dramatic drop losing and turned negative for the year after losing 2.21% to close at 1,161.86 down 26.2 points.  The Fox50 lost 1.48% or 21.32 points ending the session at 1,423.22.