Higher Open Likely For US Markets: Oil Jumps

A higher opening is likely for the U.S markets as top stock index futures moved up on Thursday morning. The market participants are looking for cues from the U.S.-China trade talks in Beijing.

At around 2:35 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures moved up 83 points, with the scope for a positive open of 51 points plus. Futures on the S&P and Nasdaq also climbed slightly.

Earnings reports are expected from Coca-Cola, Canada Goose, Canopy Growth and Nvidia.

Oil price up

Oil prices shot up on Thursday, buoyed by the signals from the Sino-U.S. tariff talks in Beijing, expecting some improvement in the global economic outlook. The latest China trade data also boosted the oil market’s expectations.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures moved to $54.16 per barrel at 0413 GMT, up 0.5 percent, from the last close. International Brent crude oil futures jumped 0.6 percent and the per barrel price moved to $63.98.

Latest Chinese trade data for January 2019 looks strong. Compared to Jan 2018, dollar-denominated exports showed a 9.1 percent jump in Jan 2019.

“The 90-day truce (on trade) agreed in December will run out on March 1, but given the progress of the talks there could be an extension, which is why there (is) rising optimism that the two leaders will meet later that month,” observed Alfonso Esparza, a market analyst at Oanda.

Gold moves up as scope for rate hike wanes

Gold prices inched up on Thursday on the back of expectations that the Federal Reserve will not hike rates for the whole of 2019. Spot gold jumped 0.2 percent at $1,308.39 per ounce, at 0256 GMT. But the U.S. gold futures fell 0.3 percent at $1,311.

Inflation data showed U.S. consumer prices remained static for the third consecutive month in January, yielding the smallest annual increase in inflation in a span of more than 18 months.

“If you look more broadly, the Fed is unlikely to raise rates in an environment where inflation is still low,” noted Ilya Spivak, currency strategist at DailyFX.

Meanwhile, stocks in Asia showed mixed trends on Thursday as investors awaited more clarity in the tariff talks.

The Shenzhen Composite was up 0.659 percent but the Shanghai Composite closed lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell more than 0.3 percent in the last hour of trading.

European stocks were up on Thursday morning, backed by strong earnings results and cues from the U.S.-China trade talks.

The Stoxx 600 index was up 0.4 percent after the bell and most sectors were in the positive territory.

Industrials stocks made good gains as they jumped 1 percent over earnings news. Airbus of France was one of the top sectoral performers.