Oil scores best opening week in half a decade
the index jumped at least 12 per cent for the year.
Sideways Christmas price action shifted to an upward slope for the S&P 500, which has been buoyed by Wall Street analysts boosting earnings forecasts and year-end estimates. UBS’s Keith Parker was one of them, raising his 2018 S&P year-end forecast to 3,150 and the index’s pershare earnings to $157 (Dh576) from $141 amid optimism that tax cuts and stock buy-backs will support the rally. Among 17 strategists tracked by Bloomberg, the average estimate for the S&P at the year-end stands at 2,886, up about 5 per cent from Friday’s close.
Companies in the S&P 500 will earn $148.3 a share in 2018, compared with $128.6 in 2017, according to Wall Street analysts.
Oil had its strongest opening week for any year since 2013 as refiners and exporters whittled away at crude inventories tucked away in US storage tanks. Futures rose 1.7 per cent last week in New York. The pull on oil stockpiles in the world’s biggest economy accelerated to 7.42 million barrels last week, a level last seen in early August.
West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery fell 57 cents to settle at $61.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract’s Thursday settlement at $62.01 was the highest close since December 2014.
Brent for March settlement lost 45 cents to close at $67.62 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
US oil output rose to 9.78 million barrels a day last week.