June 23 New York

The DJIA fell by 2.53  points to 21394.76 while the S&P 500 Index rose by 3.80 points to 2438.30.  The Nasdaq Composite Index gained by 28.57 points to 6265.25.  The U.S. dollar weakened against the yen, closing at 111.28.  The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell by 0.5 basis points to 2.142 percent.  WTI crude futures rose by 27 cents to $43.01 a barrel.  U.S. stocks halted a three-day slide, while Treasury yields and the dollar edged lower as a week dominated by crude’s tumble into a bare market.  The S&P 500 Index finished the period virtually where it began,as rallies in health-care and tech shares offset a rout in energy producers.  Weakness in energy prices were the theme of the week, with WTI and Brent dropping into a bare markets on concernes that expanding supply in the U.S. and Lybia will encounter OPEC output cuts.  Oil’s back in a bare market and investors remain unmoved by last month’s agreement to prolong supply cuts,leaving OPEC and its allies with few remaining tools to boost prices.  As Saudi Arabia,Russia and their allies reduce output,  supply that is beyond their control keeps rising.  Libya , Nigeria and U.S. shale producers are resurgent, undermining  efforts to tame a global glut.  Prices are back below where they were when the OPEC members first struck its historical deal last year.  Further curbs could be necessary to stablilize crude oil prices though major producers such as Russia and Iran are said to oppose to any further reductions.  Nations that have made the production cuts already appear to be ceding ground as rival suppliers grow.  In the U.S., crude production moves higher as shale gas producers have come to find they can pump oil profitably at lower prices.  Output rose last week to 9.35 million barrels a day, the highest level since August 2015, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.  The internal strife that earned two of OPEC’s African members an exemption from any cuts has eased.  Libya is now pumping 890000 barrels a day, the most in four years.  In Nigeria, a major export terminal restarted after a 15-month halt caused by sabotage and will ship about 250000 barrels a day this month.  Next year, new oil supplies from OPEC rivals, chiefly the U.S., will be more than enough to meet demand growth, the International Energy Angency said last week.  As a result, demand for the group’s crude will be about 200000 barrels a day lower than this year, the agency said.