Oil Prices Rise as US Stocks Record Disappointing Quarter
Today marks the end of what was, to say the least, an eventful first quarter and one which Wall Street may wish to forget. Let’s take a look at what's been happening in more detail and see what else lies ahead this week.
Please note that this material is for information purposes only and is not financial advice.
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US Stocks Slide in Q1
Despite posting a gain of 0.6% yesterday, the S&P 500 index closed the first three months of the year down 4.6%, marking its worst quarter since 2022.
The US stock market has been roiled in recent weeks by fears that Donald Trump’s tariffs will hamper economic growth in the world’s largest economy.
Tech heavyweights led the quarterly declines on Wall Street, with Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, Tesla, Amazon and Microsoft all slipping more than 10% during Q1. The worst of these casualties was Tesla, which shed a whopping 36% of its share price during the quarter.
Oil Prices Jump
Oil prices have been steadily rising the last couple of weeks and, despite concerns regarding global growth, jumped in yesterday’s session.
Benchmarks Brent and WTI ended Monday with gains of 2.8% and 2.9% respectively and continued climbing early on Tuesday morning.
The increases came following threats from President Trump to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil. The previous day, Sunday, Trump had also threatened Iran with secondary tariffs and “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before” if they did not reach an agreement with Washington regarding its nuclear program.
Secondary tariffs on Russian and Iranian oil would essentially penalise any nation which purchases oil from either of these two countries. These upside risks to oil prices appear to currently be outweighing the downside risk posed by global growth concerns.
Oil traders may want to pay attention to weekly crude inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) later on Tuesday. The official inventory figures will be published on Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
US Nonfarm Payroll
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release its Employment Situation report for March, part of which is the ever important nonfarm payroll.
In February’s report, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000. This figure was higher than the previous month but lower than the expected 160,000. Market analysts expect March’s nonfarm payroll to be reported at a lower 128,000.
Remember, you can keep up to date with the nonfarm payroll and other important economic announcements using our Economic Calendar.
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