Global markets are trading mostly higher Tuesday, despite another major reversal in the price of U.S. crude oil.
In Asia, the benchmark indexes in Australia and Shanghai were basically flat, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index finished the day 1.2% higher and South Korea’s KOSPI closed with a gain of 0.6 percent.
U.S. stocks were higher shortly after the open, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index and the S&P 500 Index gaining about 1.2% and the NASDAQ Composite Index 0.67 higher.
In Europe, London’s FTSE, the CAC-40 in Paris and the DAX index in Frankfurt were all about 2% higher in mid-day trading.
In oil futures trading, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, was nearly 20% lower at $10.23 per barrel before rebounding to about $12.66.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading above $21.71 per barrel, a loss of 3.6%. The latest selloff in U.S. crude came after the United States Oil Fund, a popular exchange-traded fund, announced it would sell all of its contracts for June.
Oil markets have been struggling since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, with government-imposed quarantines choking off demand and causing a massive glut of supplies. U.S. crude prices plunged last week below $0 per barrel for the first time in history.
