WALL STREET - Oil Jitters, 'The Plunge'

WAAAA... I'm only going to make a million this month instead of the billion I expected....

"What plummeting oil prices mean for the U.S. stock market" PBS NewsHour 1/15/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Another market plunge in China and plummeting oil prices -- which dropped to a staggering $30 a barrel -- fueled a tough week on Wall Street.  Judy Woodruff talks to Bradley Olson of The Wall Street Journal and Liz Ann Sonders of Charles Schwab.

JOSH EARNEST, White House Press Secretary:  There’s no denying that weakness in other markets with whom we do extensive business is going to be a headwind for the U.S. economy.  We’re mindful of that, particularly as the international economy becomes more integrated, and we have to be sensitive to movements that we see in the economies of other countries.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The U.S. market was also hurt by disappointing reports on several major economic indicators. Industrial production fell for a third straight month in December.  And retail sales unexpectedly dropped a 10th of a percent last month, partly because warmer weather hurt winter clothing sales.

For a closer look at the dramatic drops in both the stock market and world oil prices, we turn to Liz Ann Sonders.  She’s chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab.  And Bradley Olson, he’s national energy reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

And we welcome both of you to the program.

Liz Ann Sonders, what is behind this volatility today in the market?

LIZ ANN SONDERS, Charles Schwab:  Many of the same things, actually, that contributed to the volatility that we saw last year.

You have touched on certainly oil, but it’s more broadly what’s happening in the commodity complex, and not just the huge plunge, in and of itself, but what that says about global growth.  Of course, related to that is China, the weakness there, not only in its equity market, but its economy, its currency.  That is tied into commodity prices.

And then even more importantly was the uncertainty regarding the Fed.  We got past the uncertainty the defined 2015 in terms of will they, won’t they, and if they will, when?  They got the first rate hike.  Now it’s what are they going to do from here?  Are they going to continue to raise interest rates?  What will be the justification?

So, a lot of it really is unfinished business from 2015. It’s just conspired to occur in a condensed period of time, unfortunately, right at the beginning of the year, which I think adds to the angst for investors.