US open: Stocks struggle amid downdraft in oil prices
Boeing Co.
$170.23
11:04 18/04/24
Stocks on Wall Street are struggling to stay above water in a holiday-shortened session following the Thanksgiving holiday, with thinner than usual trading volumes making matters worse as energy futures continue to slide lower.
Dow Jones I.A.
37,775.38
04:30 15/10/20
As of 1555 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 0.39% or 92.29 points to 24,372.98, alongside a dip of 0.24% or 6.28 points on the S&P 500 to 2,643.32, while the Nasdaq Composite was up by 0.10% or 6.89 points to 6,980.10.
Energy stocks were again in focus as oil prices hit a fresh 2018 low amid worries about a global supply glut. West Texas Intermediate was down 6.83% to $50.90 a barrel on NYMEX and Brent crude was 6.12% lower at $58.77 in ICE trading.
Unsurprisingly, by sectors it was Oil & Gas producers (-3,61%) and Integrated Oil producers (-3.25%) that were faring worst.
Going the other way, the best performing areas of the market were: Airlines (2.11%), Recreational services (1.95%), Aerospace (1.16%) and Food & Drug Retailers (1.12%).
However, rising stocks were beating falling ones on both the NYSE and NASDAQ.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "Whether it’s a case of recovering from the previous days celebrations or taking advantage of the deep discounts in store and online, activity in the US is likely to be more muted on the final trading day of the week. And who knows, maybe after a day of grabbing bargains, some of that Black Friday mentality may rub off investors with many stocks now trading at a deep discount themselves compared to a couple of months ago.
"We’re not quite seeing that rub off on the markets just yet though with US futures trading in the red but we’re heading into a very interesting time of year and they may well now be primed for a so-called Santa rally as all the festive good will finds its way onto Wall Street."
Helping to offset the drag from oil, investors were mulling over encouraging remarks from US President Trump and two top Chinese officials regarding the prospects for reaching a trade deal ahead of the G-20 meeting in Buenos Aires at the end of the month.
Donald Trump reportedly said overnight that "[China] wants to make a deal and we're very happy with that. I'm very prepared, I've been preparing for it all my life".
Meanwhile, in China, the country's vice minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Chao, said he hoped a meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, would go "smoothly".
He was echoed by the vice minister of Commerce, Wang Shouwen, who said that negotiating teams from Washington and Beijing had been "in close touch".
On the data front, IHS Markit's manufacturing PMI for November printed at 54.4 for November, which was down from a reading of 54.9 in October, hitting a two-month low in the process.
Yet according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at the survey compiler: "Solid flash PMI numbers for November add to evidence that the US is enjoying sustained robust economic growth in the fourth quarter. The surveys are broadly consistent with the economy growing at an annualised rate of 2.5%, building further on the country’s best growth spell since 2014 seen in the second and third quarters."