Oil prices keep pushing higher as tensions build in the Middle East, and the moves in crude appear to be weighing on the stock market.
Overlaying the charts of the United States Oil Fund LP (USO) and the S & P 500 in recent days shows that the fund and the index appear to be inversely correlated.
In other words, when the oil fund climbs during the day, the stock market tends to dip, and vice versa.
This is a change from rest of the year, when there appeared to be little relationship between the price of oil and the broad stock market.
In midday trading Thursday, U.S. crude oil prices were up 4% , and the USO had jumped roughly 3%.
Persons:
Jeremiah Buckley, Janus Henderson, Buckley
Organizations:
United States Oil Fund, CNBC, USO
Locations:
Iran, Israel