Volatility Reigns As Markets Seesaw

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 on Tuesday. 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.

Market Radar - % Change

Nymex crude oil fell to fresh five-and-a-half year lows in early trading, but rebounded to positive territory settling at $55.93 per barrel up $0.04 or 0.02%.  Gold prices continued to move lower as the precious metal lost 1.11% to settle at $1,294.3 per ounce, down $13.4.

After rebounding from a 100 point drop at the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average turned positive, spending most of the day in the green until a late session slump sent the index down 111.97 points to close at 17,068.87, down 0.65%.  The S&P 500 also had a volatile ride, crossing the zero mark 36 times before finally closing down 0.85% at 1,972.74 after a loss of 16.89 points.

The NASDAQ Composite was hit hard, shedding 1.24% to close at 4,574.83, down 57.33 points.  The tech heavy Nasdaq 100 was the hardest hit after losing 67.81 points or 1.63% to close at 4,089.60.

The Small cap Russell 2000, which had bucked the trend and stayed positive for most of the day, finally gave up in late trading, slipping negative closing down 0.92 points or 0.08% at 1,139.37.  The Fox50 closed down 1.11% at 1,381.24 down 15.44 points on the day.