Market In-review: Stocks Heavy As Oil Slips

STOCKS

? Oil prices lowest since August on OPEC commentary

? Global equities trade heavily on oil and other commodities’ decreases

? U.S. stock indices decline after six consecutive weekly gain streak

? Draghi says more Q.E. possible in Dec

? USD weakens vs. major currencies in spite of expected Dec Fed liftoff

Oil prices slipped lower on Thursday, led by OPEC’s monthly oil market report, which stated that the oil glut has been growing significantly. Namely, it was said that surplus oil inventories are at their highest level in at least a decade on increased global production. It was further added that stockpiles in developed economies are no less than 210 m blue barrels higher than their 5-year average. Daily decreases in oil prices summed to no less than 2.75%, following the commentary. Reaching a level of USD 41.54 per barrel marked the lowest for the black gold since August. Other major commodities also showed increasing signs of weakness. Namely gold slid, marking over a percentage point loss at some point, though it quickly recovered, ending with a negligible 0.1% daily decline.

As for equity, weakness in oil and other commodities was augmented by the fact that the Fed’s December 16th decision is coming closer, and that the likelihood of a hike, derived from bond markets, is hovering at an elevated 66%. With that in mind, equities’ performance has also been substantially sub-optimal. The S&P 500, for example lost 1.4% on Thursday’s session. From there, negative sentiment pushed on into Friday, seeing oil lose another 2.4% during the day, and hover slightly above the USD 40 per barrel… which again translated to a negative session for equity. The DAX lost another 0.7% on Friday and the S&P500 lost 1.1%.

While the beginning of the week saw markets trade mostly sideways, Thursday’s and Friday’s pessimism tipped the weekly record into substantial negative territory. The S&P 500 lost an aggregate 3.6% during the week, thus breaking a streak of six weekly gains. In a similar fashion, the DOW lost 3.7% and the Nasdaq fell a heavier 4.3%. Losses were also quite significant in Europe. The DAX decreased 2.5% during the week. The CAC 40 shelled 3.5%, and the FTSE 100 is down 3.7%. East Asia is looking better with the Hang Seng losing 2.1% and the Nikkei 225 actually up 1.7%.