Oil prices drop $2 with most Asian markets closed for holidays

Article content

HONG KONG (AP) — Oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel early Monday after the OPEC+ group of oil producing nations said it plans to increase output. U.S. futures fell

Article content

Article content

U.S. benchmark crude oil sank $2.21 or 3.8% to $56.08 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Article content

Brent crude, the international standard, lost $2.14 to $59.15 per barrel.

Article content

On Sunday, the OPEC+ group of eight nations announced it will raised its output by 411,000 barrels per day. The group said strong fundamentals were behind the decision.

Article content

Article content

Falling crude oil prices have weighed on the sector, as traders factor in the likely impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies on the global economy. Crude oil prices in the U.S. are down about 17% for the year. They have fallen below $60 per barrel this week to a level where many producers can no longer turn a profit.

Article content

Article content

In stock trading, markets were closed in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and India. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 8,182.90 while Taiwan’s Taiex declined 2.1%.

Article content

The U.S. dollar slipped to 144.32 Japanese yen from 144.71 yen.

Article content

The euro climbed to $1.1334 from 1.1306.

Article content

On Friday, Wall Street extended its gains to a ninth straight day, the market’s longest winning streak since 2004. It has reclaiming much of the ground it lost after President Donald Trump escalated his trade war in early April.

Article content

The rally was spurred by a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market and revived hopes that Washington will tone down its trade tensions with China.

Article content

The S&P 500 climbed 1.5% to 5,686.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.4% to 41,317.43, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.5% to 17,977.73.

Article content

Article content

The benchmark index is still down 3.3% so far this year, and 7.4% below the record it reached in February.

Article content

The gains were broad. Roughly 90% of stocks and every sector in the S&P 500 advanced. Technology stocks led the way. Microsoft rose 2.3% and Nvidia rose 2.5%. Apple, however, fell 3.7% after the iPhone maker estimated that Trump’s tariffs will cost it $900 million.

Article content

Banks and other financial companies also made solid gains. JPMorgan Chase rose 2.3% and Visa closed 1.5% higher.

Article content

Employers added 177,000 jobs in April. That marks a slowdown in hiring from March, but it was solidly better than economists anticipated. However, the latest job figures don’t yet reflect the effects on the economy of Trump’s across-the-board tariffs. Many of the more severe tariffs that were supposed to go into effect in April were delayed by three months, except for those against China.

Article content

The job market is being closely watched for signs of stress amid trade war tensions. Strong employment has helped fuel solid consumer spending and economic growth over the last few years. Economists are now worried about the impact that taxes on imports will have on consumers and businesses, especially about how higher costs will hurt hiring and spending.

Article content

The economy is already showing signs of strain. The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.3% annual pace during the first quarter of the year. It was slowed by a surge in imports as businesses tried to get ahead of Trump’s tariffs.

Article content

Companies have been cutting and withdrawing financial forecasts because of the uncertainty over how much tariffs will cost them and how much they will squeeze consumers and sap spending.

Article content