What’s On Our Minds:

Early Tuesday morning, it was announced that four oil producers (importantly Saudi Arabia and Russia) will “freeze” oil production levels. Though this may seem as a sign of higher oil prices, production levels for both the world’s largest producers were at an all-time high in January. However, a compromise among these producers appears to be an apparent sign of financial stress in these commodity dependent economies. If the price of oil does not stabilize or move higher, additional deals could be on the table. Furthermore, the markets have been consistently focused the price of oil as investors have increasingly been quick to sell their stock positions when the oil price declines.

Last Week’s Highlights:

Stocks rallied on Friday before the long-weekend as West Texas Intermediate crude oil had the largest daily gain since February of 2009. Nevertheless, markets were still down for the week without a clear catalyst for a global selloff. Investors cited a multitude of reasons for the market turmoil. The list included, but was not limited to Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen’s observation that she was not in a hurry to raise interest rates, investors taking money out of China due to an economic slowdown, fear of slowing growth in United States, and additional in declines the price of oil. As a result of Chairman Yellan’s view for lower for longer interest rates, the financial stocks were the worst performers declining 2.4% on the week.

Looking Ahead:

This week, investors’ eyes will be on data for January housing starts and building permits on Wednesday morning. Housing starts have recently been hurt by harsh winter weather around the country. Following housing data, investors will get a gauge of the industrial sector with the release of Industrial Production. Output has been in decline since the beginning of the fall in the price of oil in mid-2014. And lastly, it will be hard to forget about South Carolina Republican Primary this weekend. This Primary is historically known for dirty politics – get your popcorn ready.