Oil Drops Below $50

It’s not over yet for oil. Spot West Texas closed below $50 per barrel today. The close was $49.95. This is the first time oil has closed below $50 in five-and-a-half years.

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It was a rough day for stocks as well. The S&P 500 dropped for the fourth day in a row, something it had not done all of last year.

The S&P 500 lost 1.83% today but the losses were heavily concentrated in energy. The Energy Sector of the S&P 500 lost 3.99% today. In contrast, Consumer Staples were down just 0.77% and Healthcare was down 0.61%. This is, of course, why they’re called defensive sectors.

There are also renewed worries that Greece might leave the euro. As an interesting historical side note, in the mid-19th century, there was an attempt at monetary union among several European countries.

The Latin Monetary Union grew to include France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Serbia and San Marino. In 1908, Greece was temporarily kicked out of the union for diluting its gold coins.

Posted by on January 5th, 2015 at 10:18 pm


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