US open: Stocks rebound as oil slide puts monetary policy in focus
US markets were rising on Tuesday despite another slide in oil prices, as sentiment was buoyed by hopes of continued loose monetary policy worldwide.
Agenus Inc.
$4.97
11:24 18/04/24
Apple Inc.
$167.04
13:09 18/04/24
Incyte Corp.
$52.82
12:30 18/04/24
Nasdaq 100
17,394.31
12:15 18/04/24
Early in the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.25% to 17,860.73, the S&P 500 increased 1.07% to 2,050.03 and Nasdaq soared 1.38% to 4,227.38.
Ahead of the opening bell, market analyst Jasper Lawler from CMC Markets said: “Crashing oil prices led to lower stocks on Monday but US markets are set for a higher open on Tuesday after data showing a 14-year low in UK inflation adds to the mounting pile of evidence that global stock markets may still have plenty of time left to benefit from zero-bound interest rates.
Oil prices were under continued pressure with WTI crude down 1.7% at $45.31 a barrel and Brent 3.1% lower at $46.02 a barrel.
With oil prices now trading close to a six-year low and inflation running at multi-year lows across the globe, forecasts for the first interest-rate rise by the Federal Reserve have been pushed back. Data on Friday is expected to show that consumer prices in the States rose at an annual rate of just 0.7% in December, compared with 1.3% in November.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is also widely expected to implement quantitative easing next week to battle deflation in the Eurozone.
Craig Erlam from Alpari noted: “You get the impression that the only way OPEC would be willing to discuss production cuts at this stage is if similar cuts were agreed by the US shale companies. Given the debt levels of these companies and their costs, I would not be surprised if this happened in the coming months.
“Until that happens, oil prices could continue to push lower which means inflation in many countries will also continue to head south. The UK is one of those countries that has seen inflation fall rapidly, largely thanks to the fall in oil prices.”
Over on COMEX, gold futures were advancing 0.25% to $1,235.90 while the dollar was sliding against the pound, the yen and the euro.
The yield on a benchmark US 10-year Treasury rose three basis points to 1.94%.
In the corporate world Apple was rising over 2% amid news it set Mac sales records for the second quarter in a row.
Agenus was falling 5% after shooting upwards on Monday due to a new partnership with Incyte.