Wall Street closed the year this Tuesday with annual increases in its three main indicators, driven by enthusiasm for interest rate cuts, Donald Trump’s victory, economic strength and artificial intelligence (AI).
The S&P 500 is up 23.31% in 2024, after a 24.2% rise last year. The two-year crop of 53% is the best since the nearly 66% rebound in 1997 and 1998.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones added 12.88% in 2024, while the Nasdaq outperformed with a gain of 28.64%.
Texas oil price rises; british falls
On the other hand, the price of Texas intermediate oil (WTI) closed on Tuesday with a rise of 1%, to 71.72 dollars per barrel, thus ending the year marked by tensions in the Middle East, the slowdown in demand for China and the results of the US elections.
At the close of the session on the New York Mercantile Exchange, US crude oil contracts for delivery in February gained 73 cents.
This year crude oil posted a modest 0.22% annual loss, trading volume limited since mid-October.
In April it reached its highest annual price, reaching 86.91 dollars a barrel, while the minimum was recorded in September when it fell 4.5%, to 65.75 dollars, dragged down by the lowering of the then demand outlook of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The organization revised downwards its latest forecast for December 31 on the growth of global oil demand in 2024 and 2025, and set them at 104.3 million barrels per day (mbd) and 105.5 mbd, respectively.
For its part, today natural gas futures contracts for February fell to $3.63, with a considerable increase on Monday, due to expectations of cold temperatures in the United States and Europe, as well as the imminent expiration of an agreement that allows transport Russian liquefied natural gas to Europe via Ukraine.
Meanwhile, gasoline expiring the same month added 2.5 cents, to $2.
Meanwhile, British oil, better known as “Brent”, for delivery in March 2025 ended this Tuesday at $74.64 in the London futures market, 0.34% more than at the close of the previous day.
The barrel of North Sea crude oil, a reference in Europe, rose 0.25 dollars compared to the last trading on the International Exchange (ICE), when it ended at 74.39 dollars.
Brent ended its last session of the year on the rise, but the overall balance for 2024 is negative, as European crude oil fell 3.1% compared to the final closing price of 2023, of $77.04.
Concerns about an economic slowdown and a drop in demand from China, the world’s main oil importer, forced OPEC to postpone for the third consecutive time, to April 2025, the implementation of its plan to increase production progressively.
This Tuesday it was learned that manufacturing activity in the Asian giant expanded for the third consecutive month in December, a data that investors interpreted positively and that could indicate that the flexibility of fiscal and monetary policies and the “stimulus” packages announced by Beijing are supporting the Chinese economy.
Likewise, geopolitics was one of the key players in the volatility of the oil price, which has also received a boost on this last day of 2024 after the US army’s attacks against Houthi targets in Yemen.
(With information from EFE)
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