Oil is driving the stock market for the first time in a long while

Oil prices keep pushing higher as tensions build in the Middle East, and the moves in crude appear to be weighing on the stock market. Overlaying the charts of the United States Oil Fund LP and the S & P 500 in recent days shows that the fund and the index appear to be inversely correlated. In other words, when the oil fund climbs during the day, the stock market tends to dip, and vice versa.

A correlation coefficient that's closer to 1 indicates a strong positive relationship between two variables, while one that's near -1 suggests an inverse relationship. A value of zero, however, indicates no correlation. In midday trading Thursday, U.S. crude oil prices were up 4% , and the USO had jumped roughly 3%. Meanwhile the S & P 500 was slightly lower.

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