Oil

The Dow hit 18,000 for the first time after the latest reading on the U.S. economy put growth at an 11-year high.

If the Sony situation reminded us of anything, it’s that cybersecurity is a growth industry. 

After a Fed-fueled rally from a dovish FOMC statement Wednesday, Wall Street continued its run higher Thursday, with the Dow gaining more than 400 points and all ten S&P sectors in the green.

Stocks were positive all throughout the session ahead of the FOMC meeting and oil prices found some consistency. The markets extended those gains further following the Fed’s announcement that while economic activity is expanding, it could remain patient in enacting interest rate hikes and planned to keep rates at market friendly low levels for a ‘considerable’ time.

Crude oil continued its slide overnight  and a surprise interest rate hike by Russia in an effort to stabilize the falling Rouble which has been hard pressed in the wake of oil’s recent losses, had the U.S. markets poised for another down day.  Oil reversed course in the late morning bouncing the equity markets off their lows and even into positive territory before sentiment turned negative again driving the markets to a lower close.

Stocks erased gains and closed near session lows Tuesday as concerns over the Russian economy took center stage.

Oil’s early session gains had stocks set for a positive move but a volatile reversal of Crude sent stocks into the red as the hostage crisis in Sydney Australia and an unexpected contraction of the Empire State Manufacturing Index turned investor sentiment negative.

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%.

U.S. stocks pared their heavy losses Tuesday after global jitters initially fueled a sharp pullback.

U.S. Markets opened in the red but rebounded to mixed results after China revised credit market collateral rules disallowing low-grade corporate bonds.  In Greece, the government moved up a parliamentary presidential vote which sent the Athex Composite index down nearly 13% on concerns of the return of unrest there.

U.S. Markets opened under pressure following lower than expected economic data out of China and Japan but as oil continued its slide, the market selloff gathered momentum.   Energy stocks were amongst the hardest hit and the S&P 500 Energy sector fell 3.91% as oil prices closed in on five year lows. 

We're taking a look at Chevron and Tesla this week amid the ongoing slump in oil prices.

The U.S. markets rebounded from Monday’s losses after getting a boost from positive November car sales data which met expectations of 5.8 million and light truck sales which came in slightly ahead of estimates at 7.5 million.  Construction spending in October saw a better-than-expected rise of 1.1% which further pressed stocks into the green.

The U.S. markets were under pressure as investors were skittish following manufacturing data out of China that was lower than expected and concerns about a slow start to the holiday spending season.

With falling gas prices and the holiday shopping season ready to kick off on Black Friday, investors were betting on retail.

U.S. markets opened under pressure following weak economic data out of Asia and Europe but rebounded as traders digested positive U.S. economic data.  Initial jobless claims remained below the key 300k number for the 10th consecutive week and existing home sales saw a surprise gain where economists had been expecting a small loss.

The U.S. markets were in the green after an unexpected rise in the November NAHB Home Builder Sentiment Index outpaced economist expectations and global financial policy makers signaled their willingness to take further action to buoy their economies.

The U.S. markets were mixed after Japan’s third-quarter GDP unexpectedly contracted dropping 1.6% quarter-over-quarter sending the country into a technical recession following last period’s drop of 7.3%.

The U.S. markets were mostly flat in a light trading session on the Veterans Day holiday but a late session jump pushed all the benchmarks into the green along with oil and gold which rebounded from Monday’s losses.

Following gains in Europe, the major U.S. benchmark indexes maintained their momentum following previous three weeks of gains and started off the week hitting new all-time highs while crude oil prices continued to fall.