For much of , oil futures and equities have traded in an unusual lockstep , with crude appearing to lead the way lower and then higher in a whipsaw first quarter.

Analysts, however, are noting a breakdown in that once tight relationship, which could have important implications for markets. While the focus was on oil US: But that overall relationship is fading, as shown in the chart above from Morgan Stanley MS, Stocks shrugged off weakness in oil futures, which saw the U. Oil choppy as hopes for production freeze dim.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda gave credit to the Federal Reserve for the shift.

The Fed had taken a back seat to oil prices, but that appeared to change after the Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen reaffirmed a cautious approach to tightening monetary policy that saw investors scale back expectations for future interest-rate increases. If oil revisits its lows, the correlation with equities would likely rise again but might not reach the levels seen earlier this year.

For now, reduced worries over a U. William Watts is MarketWatch's deputy markets editor, based in New York. Follow him on Twitter wlwatts. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Service , Privacy Policy , and Cookie Policy. Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.

Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time.

How Strong Is The Stock Market Correlation To Oil Prices? - SPDR S&P Trust ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) | Seeking Alpha

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