Oil Price Continues to Fall, Takes Stock Market With It

Stocks briefly rallied in early trade, following a rebound in oil futures, however those gains soon evaporated.

Official unemployment figures will be released later today, and economists are expecting a slight rise.

United States crude fell 0.9 per cent to $US37.16 a barrel.

The Dow Jones industrial average gave up 123 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 17,724 as of 2:08 p.m. Eastern time.

Nine of 10 major S&P 500 sectors fell, with a 1.9 per cent fall in the raw materials index leading the decline. Dow Chemical and DuPont soared following reports the two were in talks to combine.

With the oil price revival running out of steam, equities were in a down phase over the lunchtime period, surrendering early gains.

Meanwhile, the consumer price index rose 1.5% year-on-year last month, beating expectations for a 1.4% gain and up from the 1.3% advance recorded in October.

China stocks edged up on Monday, with investors rotating from property companies back into tech and healthcare, sectors that Beijing hopes will be new engines of growth.

Shares of Wynn Resorts (WYNN) are moving sharply higher in pre-market trading on news its CEO Stephen Wynn bought more than 1 million shares of the casino company’s stock on the open market. In other trading, wholesale gasoline rose 2.8 cents to close at $1.232 a gallon, heating oil fell two cents to $1.239 a gallon and natural gas fell 0.8 cent to $2.062 per 1,000 cubic feet.

New York- Wall Street is lower as oil prices steady but hover near their seven-year low and weak Chinese trade data reignitess fears of a global economic slowdown. The declining crude prices knocked down shares of major oil companies.

However, Ms. Krosby warned, “there still could be more pain in the energy market”.

METALS: Previous and industrial metals futures closed broadly higher.

“We do think oil is putting in a bottom here and view this as a good buying opportunity”, said Gary Bradshaw, portfolio manager of Hodges Capital Management in Dallas, Texas. The Sprott Energy Fund saw its worst day in years this week. In his view, ultra-low oil prices will drive down supply, while demand will continue to grow.

In currencies, the euro was up 1.1% against the dollar at $1.1006, while the dollar was down 1.3% against the yen at ¥ 121.409. It fell 120.36 points on Wednesday.

“Investors are adopting a wait-and-see philosophy until they see what the Fed does”, Ms O’Keeffe said.

Analysts stated the strong job progress would more than likely pave the best way for Fed to boost rates of interest later this month, the primary time in nearly a decade.