The stock markets in the United States climbed as oil prices rebounded and the dollar strengthened today. The oil prices increase amid the reduction of output in the U.S. and speculations that OPEC producers will meet next month.
The S&P 500 is moving towards its all-time high of 2,130.82 points, which was recorded on May 21, 2015. The index was up 0.41% to 2,109.39 points at the time of this writing around 3:09 in the afternoon in New York.
The NASDAQ climbed 0.54% to 4,966.91 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 0.56% to 18, 155.37 points, and the Russell 2000 went up 0.59% to 1,146.97 points.
Nick Kalivas, a senior equity product manager at Invesco PowerShares, told Bloomberg, “There’s been no bearish catalyst that’s surfaced to really knock things down and earnings are spilling in and going as expected.”
He added, “We’re now a couple of heartbeats off the all-time high and that’s creating performance anxiety among fund managers, causing people to think the picture’s not as glum. It’s keeping an underlying bid in the market.’
U.S. oil production expected to drop
The price of WTI crude oil increased 3.68% to $42.59 per barrel and the Brent crude oil rose 3.43% to $45.54 per barrel today.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said the onshore crude oil production in the lower 48 states is expected to decline from an average of 7.41 million barrels per day last year to 6.46 million barrels per day this year and 5.76 million barrels per day in 2017.
According to the agency, the reduction in oil production was in response to the continued decline of oil prices, which affected drilling in the United States significantly.
In a note to clients, Commerzbank commented, “A lasting reduction in the oversupply can be expected in the second half of the year thanks to a combination of declining U.S. oil production and seasonally stronger demand.”
Stock market movers
The stock price of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) increased more than 1% to $32.06 per share. The company reported strong financial results—its earnings increased to $0.42 per share and revenue went up to $13.7 billion in the first quarter of 2016.
The shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) gained more than 3% to $134.85 per share. The company decided to exit the Obamacare individual insurance market in 2017. UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said the company will “remain in only a handful of states” next year.
The stock price of Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) increased more than 9% to $18.56 per share. Earlier this month, the company secured a short-term loan worth $500 million, which was partly financed by Cascade Investment, the investment firm controlled Bill Gates.
Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) gained more than 4% to $38.01 per share. The technology company reported financial results slightly above the expectations of Wall Street analysts. Its first-quarter adjusted earnings were $0.8 per share and revenue was $1.09 billion. Analysts expected Yahoo to deliver earnings or $0.07 per share in $1.08 billion revenue.
