The Dow Jones Industrial Average turned positive for the year and US crude oil settled at $40 a barrel, easing fears of a potential recession in 2016. Both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 are near where they were at the close of 2015, after falling over 10% as of Feb. 11, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“You start to take that risk of recession off the table," Lew Piantedosi, portfolio manager at Eaton Vance, says. "You’re going to see the market respond and I think that’s exactly what happened.”
The Dow jumped 0.9% to 17481.49, notching a 0.3% gain for the year. The S&P rose 0.7% to 2040.59 points. The Nasdaq saw a 0.2% uptick to 4774.99 but is down 4.6% for the year. US crude oil futures rose 4.5% to $40.20 a barrel, the highest since Dec. 3 amid continuing talk of a production freeze.
Coming on top of the Fed’s strong hints of just one more rate hike this year, and strong job numbers, some analysts called the modest rally a turning point. There was “real fear around the potential for us going into recession,” Tony DeSpirito, portfolio manager of the BlackRock Equity Dividend Fund, says. “The data has shown that’s just not in the cards for the moment.” [WSJ]
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