The Dow topped the 18,000 for the first time since July, 2015 as it closed up over 106 points today. Oil prices were down 58 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $39.78 a barrel. Crude fell more than 6.5 percent overnight after oil producers meeting in Doha, Qatar yesterday failed to reach an agreement on an output freeze agreement. A deal to put a limit on oil output by OPEC and non-OPEC refineries collapsed after Saudi Arabia insisted that Iran join in despite calls on Saudi Arabia to save the agreement and help prop up oil prices. Read more as to why the oil deal might have fallen apart here.
Meanwhile, speculation as to when the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee will raise interest rates again simmered in the minds of the experts as the President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank William Dudley said today-
“Normalization of monetary policy will likely remain gradual and cautious due to significant uncertainties and continued headwinds to growth from the financial crisis.”
See more from CNN/Money about the market’s volatile first quarter in 2016 below.
Here are the final numbers from Monday, 4/18/16 on Wall Street:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 18,004.16 (+106.70 / +0.60 %)
NASDAQ: 4.960.02 (+21.80 / +0.44 %)
S&P 500: 2,094.34 (+13.61 / +0.65%)
