Chart o’ the Day: Oil vs the S&P 500

I did this chart really quickly to illustrate the recent relationship between WTI crude oil prices and the stock market.

Stocks didn’t like it over the last few afternoons when WTI dropped. Yesterday it briefly fell below the “psychologically important” $50 a barrel level and the S&P 500 gave up its gains.

Traders, apparently, don’t want to see anything that runs contra to the narrative of a speeding-up economy and global upside surprises.

Stocks and oil prices have been positively correlated since last August for the most part, with almost no negative correlation at all (on a 40-day rolling basis) since Election Day (bottom pane):