Moderate Open Likely For US Markets, Oil Down

A moderate open likely for U.S. markets Thursday as top stock index futures were slightly down after the U.S.-North Korean summit in Hanoi ended without a deal.

At 5.45 a.m. ET, Dow futures were 57 points lower indicating a negative open of more than 32 points. Futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also looked downbeat.

At the earnings front, AB InBev, Encana, and PG&E, Dell, VMWare, and Autodesk are expected to publish their quarterly results.

Oil slips

Oil prices slipped Thursday following weaker China, Japan data on factory output.

Adding to it was the news of record U.S. crude output. But supply cuts of producer club OPEC are still supporting the market.

Per barrel price of International Brent crude futures at $66.15 around 3 GMT was 0.4 percent down from the last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures at $56.92 per barrel fell 2 cents from the last close.

American crude oil production was up by 2 million barrels per day (BPD) and touched a massive 12.1 million BPD.

“Crude imports into the U.S. fell 1.6 million BPD last week, to a two-decade low,” noted ANZ bank.

In Asia, South Korea shares plunged after the Vietnam summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended without an agreement.

The Kospi in South Korea was down 1.76 percent, Kosdaq tumbled 2.78 percent.

Mainland Chinese stocks showed mixed trends with the Shanghai composite declining 0.44 percent and Shenzhen Composite jumping 0.351 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell more than 0.4 percent in the final hour of trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 and Topix declined 0.79 percent. But Australia's ASX 200 jumped 0.3 percent shedding earlier losses.

Gold prices were down Thursday and remained at the two-week lows of the previous session. This followed rebound of the dollar on the back of comments by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer hinting no immediate closure to the tariff war with China.

As of 0340 GMT, spot gold and the U.S. gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $1,318.50 and $1,320.10 per ounce respectively.

“There is some uncertainty about the trade deal and some of the safe-haven (demand) has gone to the U.S. dollar. That has taken a bit of a bid from gold,” noted John Sharma, economist, National Australian Bank.

Euro stocks down

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down by 0.4 percent Thursday with most sectors in the negative region. The worst-performance was for basic resources, down 1.4 percent as trade worries resurfaced. The U.S. trade official Robert Lighthizer has stated that long-term hurdles on trade will remain.