The markets have been watching oil and related exchange traded funds (ETFs) closely lately for a sign, any sign, of what direction it’s going to take.

The $50 per barrel mark was technically crossed on Wednesday, as the new front month contract for May settled at $50.04. For April, delivery of light, sweet crude had its the highest close since the start of December for the current front month contract, 24/7 Wall Street says.

Thursday in trading, oil surged to its highest point this year. Chris Kahn for the Associated Press reports that the Federal Reserve’s move sent the dollar tumbling, which sparked a rally in oil to $51.53.

For USO, the major oil ETF, it reflects the pre-expense performance of the spot-price of West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude oil.

Konrad Imielinski for Seeking Alpha has a list of what’s been moving oil prices up or down since Feb. 11.

• United States Oil (USO): down 8.3% year-to-date

• PowerShares DB Oil (DBO): up 2.5% year-to-date

Tags: Commodity ETFs, DBO, Energy, Oil, USO