OKLAHOMA CITY – Travel bans imposed because of anxiety over the global coronavirus pandemic, coupled with an oil price feud between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has caused prices to plunge, have sent the stock market on a roller-coaster trajectory of late.
March 12, “Black Thursday,” saw the greatest single-day fall in the market since the stock market crash of 1987.
Keith Gaddie, a University of Oklahoma professor, noted that the Dow Jones (at the closing bell) soared from 19,827 on Jan. 20, 2017, to a record high of 29,551 on Feb. 12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 2,000 points on March 9 because of a massive sell-off, but roared back to 25,018 the next day. However, just two days later, on March 12, the Dow Jones had slipped to 21,328.
“Pumping $1.5 trillion from the Fed caused the markets to rally for exactly 45 minutes,” Gaddie wrote on Facebook. The Dow Jones “is off 2,000 points from open” and off 8,000 points from four weeks ago, a 27% decline.
“We’ve given up nearly three years of growth in 29 days,” wrote Gaddie, who is a President’s Associates Presidential Professor and Executive Faculty Fellow of the University, and also Senior Fellow of Headington College. Associated Press reported that the S&P 500, a stock market index, plunged 26.7% from its all-time high set just last month, extending a sell-off that has wiped out most of Wall Street’s big gains since Donald Trump became president.
The average closing price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was $94.88 per 42-gallon barrel in 2011. On March 9 the price had plunged to one-third as much: $31.13 per barrel. The average closing price hadn’t been that low in 17 years, since 2003.
Oklahoma sweet commanded $29.50/barrel, while Oklahoma sour sold for $17.50/barrel, on March 11.