Oil Rebounds To $40/Barrel, Quiets Recession Screams (For Now)

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]

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's National Newsletters
Related Stories

Discussing Strategic Capital Stack Structuring At Bisnow's Sept. 30 National Finance Event

Inside The Nationwide Jockeying For Opportunity Zones 2.0

GTIS Partners Rebrands As Brightshore Capital, Launches $250M Debt Platform

Data Center Spills 5,000 Gallons Of Fuel Into New Jersey River

Hines And Rialto Close Office Credit Fund At $1.1B

Chipotle Adding Hundreds Of New Locations Worldwide

'Beyond A Routine Wobble': 10-Year Treasury Clears 5% Ahead Of Key Fed Meeting

Trump's DEI Crackdown Is Creating New Risks For Landlords That Lease To The Government

Airbnb Launches $250M Fund To Invest In Affordable Housing

Brookfield Buys Minority Stake In Hyperscale Data Center Developer AREP

Judge Dismisses Suit Alleging Alexandria Misled Investors Over Portfolio Strength

How Companies Can Eliminate Shadow AI And Gain Value From Artificial Intelligence Tools