With the backing of the oil cartel, energy traders helped push oil prices to their highest in over three weeks. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were 2.6% higher to $49.1 per barrel while Brent crude oil was up 2.4% to $52.1 per barrel.
“The rebound in oil prices and lack of bad news on the geopolitical front has led to a bit of a relief rally in equities,” Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab, told Reuters. “At this level, there isn’t too big a correlation between oil and equities but since we’ve seen oil fall quite a bit in a month or so, today’s rally in oil is helping the market grind higher.”
Miner stocks also jumped, with materials sector companies in the S&P 500 rising 1.1%, on gains in base metals prices after Chinese President Xi Jinping promised over $100 billion in new financing as part of a mega-infrastructure project, “One Belt, One Road.” Over $900 billion is expected to be invested in roads, ports, pipelines and other infrastructure as part of the project, spanning countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.
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