OPEC seems to be 2-0 up as the oil prices sent US stocks to its biggest weekly drop in 2/12 years. According to several news sources, the markets are also reacting negatively to an “industrial data” from China which suggest there is a global economic slowdown. OPEC may ironically see this as a sign of victory as this may be the beginning of a pull back in the funding of Shale production as the fall in oil prices below $60 makes the businesses un bankable. Check out the data (from Bloomberg) below;
- The S&P 500 (SPX) lost 1.6 percent to 2,002.59 at 4 p.m. in New York, extending losses in the final hour to cap a weekly loss of 3.5 percent.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 312.04 points, or 1.8 percent, to 17,284.3. The Dow slid 3.8 percent in the week, its biggest decline in three years. Trading in S&P 500 companies was 22 percent above the 30-day average for this time of the day
- Stocks around the world fell today after November Chinese factory production slowed more than estimated.
- Data showing a 7.2 percent gain from the year before missed the 7.5 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index plunged 2.6 percent today and 5.8 percent over five days, its worst week in three years.