Oil’s Reverse Leads Stocks Lower

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.

Market Radar - % Change

Following Friday’s dramatic drop, Nymex Crude opened to modest gains but reversed course during the session to end down 3.29% settling at $55.91 per barrel down $1.90, a new five-year low.  Gold prices were also under pressure slipping $14.8 or 1.21% to settle at $1,207.70 per ounce.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung negative after early gains falling below its 50 day moving average after losing 0.58% to close at 17,180.84 down 99.99 points.  The S&P 500 also dropped below its 50 day moving average closing at 1,989.63 down 0.63% or 12.7 points.

The NASDAQ Composite lost 48.44 points closing at 4,605.16 down 48.44 points while the NASDAQ 100 fell 41.87 points or one percent to close at 4,157.41.

The Small cap Russell 2000 fell 1.05% after losing 12.15 points to close at 1,140.3.  The Fox50 closed down 0.76% at 1,396.68 down 10.7 points on the day.