Higher Open Likely For US Markets: Oil Price Zooms After Tanker Attack

Higher open likely for the U.S markets Thursday after main stock index futures looked up on Thursday morning.

This followed an uptick in the market mood from President Donald Trump’s flexibility on the China trade war front by refusing to specify a deadline for levying higher tariffs on $325 billion worth Chinese imports to the U.S.

At 7:15 a.m. ET, Dow Jones futures showed a positive open of 91 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also rose.

At the data front, import prices for May and weekly jobless claims figures will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Broadcom will report its latest quarterly earnings results after market hours.

Trump said he would meet China president Xi Jinping at G 20 but asserted the trade war may escalate and slap tariffs on the remaining Chinese imports.

Oil price zooms after the tanker attack

The reported attack on oil tankers and explosions at the Gulf of Oman on Thursday morning pushed up oil prices. The attack was near the Iranian coastline.

The fire was reported in tankers at the Front Altair and the Kokuka Courageous. The crews later abandoned the vessels, according to shipping industry sources.

Brent crude prices jumped more than 3 percent on Thursday following the tanker explosions.

In the early hours of trading, the benchmark jumped almost 4 percent and later shed some gains to trade at $61.97 a barrel.

The chemical tanker, Kokuka Courageous was loaded in Saudi Arabia and was heading to Singapore. It caught fire almost the same time as explosions were heard at the Front Altair before 6:00 a.m. local time.

What caused the explosions and fire damage are unclear, but fears are up to that pre-planned attacks are continuing as in the mid-May ship sabotage in the region.

BSM Ship Management, the Kokuka’s Singapore-based manager said 21-crews abandoned the ship due to the “security incident. The ship’s starboard hull suffered big damage.

The ship was 70 nautical miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah. Sabotage attacks took place on four tankers at Fujairah in mid-May. The U.S. authorities blamed Iran for the attack while Iran has denied any role.

Asian stocks mixed

Mixed trends prevailed in Asian shares on Thursday after it took cues from the overnight decline on Wall Street.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed lower amid uncertainty stemming violent clashes between protesters and police over the extradition bill.

Mainland Chinese stocks jumped. The Shanghai composite was up. But Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.46 percent. The Topix index declined 0.82 percent.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.27 percent while Australia’s ASX 200 ended largely flat.

European stocks also traded high on Thursday following Germany’s 5G auction graced telecom stocks. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rebounded with a 0.4 percent jump during the morning session.

Gold up

Gold prices jumped on Thursday as demand rose following higher expectations of an interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

This followed a soft inflation data that came on Wednesday. Data from the Labor Department showed consumer prices marginally rose in May and inflation was moderate. This and a slowing economy added pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this year.

Spot gold jumped 0.3 percent to $1,337.41 per ounce, as of 0706 GMT while the U.S. gold futures were up 0.3 percent, at $1,341.40 an ounce.