INVESTORS could easily get confused about the impact of oil prices rises on the economy and markets. The story seemed to be clear: high prices bad, low prices good. The two great oil shocks in the 1970s unambiguously bad for western economies - ushering in stagflation and transferring spending power to the oil-producing countries. In turn, low oil prices in the late 1990s coincided with the dotcom boom.
But when oil fell in the second half of 2015, that was seen as a bearish sign for the global economy and markets. This time round, oil is falling again, with both Brent crude and West Texas intermediate dropping more than 20%. But the decline has barely made a dent in the upward march of the S&P 500 index.
The key to the differing market reaction is why the oil price is falling. Back in 2015, the fear was falling demand, in particular investors worried that the Chinese economy was slowing. If that assumption had been right, demand for a lot more than oil would have suffered. The equity...Continue reading
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