Oil had a wild week last week, even turning negative on Monday, April 20, as worries about lower demand in a sharp recession and where to store the actual barrels of oil sparked a historic rout.

“The reality is oil isn’t worthless, but at these levels it’s a mixed bag. For consumers, lower oil means lower gas prices,” explained LPL Financial Chief Investment Officer Burt White. “But on the other side, Russia and OPEC have flooded the oil market with cheap barrels and driven prices sharply lower, which hurts the United States as the largest producer in the world.”

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Stocks moved lower on the week as volatility in the oil patch dominated headlines. Prices for the May contracts for WTI crude oil briefly vaulted into negative territory ahead of the settlement date on April 21. Jobless claims continued to climb at a record pace, though the growth rate declined for a third consecutive week.

The S&P 500 Index moved lower, breaking a two-week winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged while the Nasdaq outperformed, losing less than 0.2% for the week.

Small caps outperformed large caps for only the sixth week this year. Growth-style stocks led value again, following his

With 20% of S&P 500 Index companies having reported first quarter results so far, earnings season has been a mixed bag. In our April 13  earnings preview, we noted that S&P 500 Index earnings for the quarter were expected to decline 10% year over year, based on FactSet’s consensus estimates from analysts. That number is minus 15% now, largely due to weaker-than-expected results for the financials sector so far. Meanwhile, estimates for the second quarter have fallen from an expected 11% decline on April 1 to a 31% decline as of Thursday, as analysts have updated numbers to factor in what they have learned from companies and

One month ago today the S&P 500 Index bottomed after a vicious bear market. Was this the ultimate bottom? We’ll have to wait and see, but what we do know is the rally we’ve seen over the past month is nearly as historic as the drop coming into it was.

“We recently had the best 20-day rally for the S&P 500 since March 2009 and one of the best ever,” explained LPL Financial Senior Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “Looking back at the previous best 20-day rallies, one thing is consistent: very strong returns going out a year.”

As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, the 10 previo