Market Watch: Oil hits highest mark since last summer

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Energy stole much of the focus today as the price of oil closed above $50 a barrel for the first time since last July.  That helped the energy sector gain nearly 2% but the bio-tech division was down 2.5%. Only the NASDAQ finished in the red.

Yesterday, the S&P 500 closed at its highest since November 3, 2015.Today it was trading at levels not seen since last summer, while the Dow danced around the psychologically significant 18,000 mark.

Meanwhile a June interest rate hike, thought to be seriously considered only a few weeks ago by the Fed, now has just a 2 percent chance, according to the CME’s Fed tracker. July has a slightly better chance, with odds increasing through the year.  See more form CNBC below.

Meantime, according to a survey conducted by Willis Towers Watson, about one in four U.S. workers expects to keep working through age 70,  and 25% of Americans age 50 and older surveyed in March by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research said they never plan to retire.  The #1 reason?  “Financial needs” as the “retirement age” keeps getting pushed back later and later in life.

Read more here.

Here are the final numbers from Tuesday, June 7th on Wall Street:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,938.28  (+17.95 / +0.10%)

NASDAQ: 4,961.75 (-6.96/ -0.15%)

S&P 500: 2,112.13  (+2.72/ +0.13%)