What do we know about oil prices and stock returns?

This paper is a survey of research on how oil prices affect stock returns. In the last couple of decades there has been an upsurge in such research, suggesting that a stock take is timely. The sheer volume of research on the interaction between oil markets and stock markets has meant that we have lost track of the key findings from the literature. The danger, in the absence of a stock take, is that we will produce a large volume of studies on how oil prices interact with stock returns without them having any real impact on the profession. This paper is a response to this concern. It highlights the key themes researched, main findings and, equally importantly, identifies key challenges and suggests an agenda for future research on the interaction between oil prices and stock returns and oil prices and the financial sector more generally.