Pre Market News: Modest Open Likely For US Markets, Oil Price Rises

Modest open likely for the U.S markets after the key U.S. stock futures were looking moderately up Tuesday morning.

At 01:40 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up 54 points, indicating a positive open of 61 points. Futures on the S&P and Nasdaq were only marginally higher.

In terms of triggers, Wall Street investors are likely to digest the new China data that showed an unexpected crash of exports in August and a substantial shrinking in China’s exports to the United States.

The drop indicates weakness in the world's second-largest economy and a weaker Chinese economy will be a matter of worry to many trading partners including Germany given their expanding trading links.

Market sentiment was also slightly hurt by the disappointing U.S. jobs data last week.

At the data front, on Monday the arrival of new consumer credit figures at 3:00 p.m. ET will be significant.

The European stock market had a mixed platter on Monday morning as investors monitored Brexit related political moves in the U.K. and hope increased for a policy stimulus from major economies as weak data piled up from different economies.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 traded just above the flatline Monday morning. The gainers were auto stocks while the food and beverage sector slipped 0.7 percent.

Oil price rises

Oil price rose on Monday over expectations that Saudi Arabia’s newly appointed Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman will steer the output cuts observed by OPEC in the past months.

Brent crude was up one percent at $62.15 a barrel by 0649 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate shot up 1.2 percent at $57.17 a barrel.

The higher prices on Monday were also supported by a rise in oil imports by China in August as shipments increased 3 percent since July.

Asian markets up

In Asia, the markets jumped on Monday. According to stock market news, mainland Chinese stocks were up. The benchmark Shanghai composite jumped 0.84 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index traded flat.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.56 percent while the Topix index added 0.91 percent. South Korea’s Kospi also added 0.52 percent.

The latest customs data from China showed that August exports fell one percent in place of analysts’ expectations of a 2 percent rise per Reuters poll.

“Looking ahead, we expect China’s export outlook to remain gloomy,” commented Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics.

Indian shares ended higher on Monday led by gains in banking and auto stocks.

The benchmark BSE Sensex jumped 164 points or 0.44 percent while the broader NSE Nifty50 index rose 57 points or 0.52 percent.

Gold prices slipped Monday as equities rose. Expectations of lending rates easing by major central banks amid soft economic data kept gold prices steady at the psychological level of $1,500.

Spot gold fell 0.1 percent to $1,505.20 per ounce, as of 0739 GMT. The U.S. gold futures also shed 0.1 percent to touch $1,514.1 an ounce.

“The renewed global risk appetite has spurred weakness in safe-haven assets,” noted Phillip Futures analyst Benjamin Lu while commenting on the price slippage in bullion.