US stocks flat despite dip in oil prices

3/14/2016 6:49:10 PM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) >The U.S. stock market closed flat Monday despite a 4 percent loss in oil prices during the day.

The Dow Jones industrial rose 15 points to end at 17229 while the Nasdaq composite increased 2 points to end the day at 4750. But the S&P 500 fell 3 points to close at 2019.

The falling oil price and a bearish outlook by Morgan Stanley's didn’t have much of an effect on American stocks that have followed the crude price trend in recent months.

The dip in crude prices Monday were helped after Iran a day earlier sad it would not join a collective effort by Russia Saudi Arabia Venezuela and Qatar to freeze production levels.

Tehran said its oil output would first need to reach pre-sanctions levels of more than 4 million barrels a day on average before the country considers any production freeze according to Iranian Republic News Agency (IRNA).

International benchmark Brent crude fell 3.7 percent to reach as low as $38.82 a barrel after it opened Monday at $40.31 per barrel. Meanwhile American benchmark West Texas Intermediate dipped to $36.69 after beginning the day at $38.17 -- a 3.9 percent fall.

The decline in prices came although OPEC said the cartel’s February output fell 175000 barrels a day on average.

And investment bank giant Morgan Stanley said there is a 30 percent higher risk of global recession in the next 12 months due to a global slowdown in economic growth.

The financial corporation also lowered GDP forecasts for the U.S. Euro area Japanese and the U.K. economies and warned that Brent crude could fall as low as $25 a barrel during the first quarter next year.

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