US markets open: Wall Street gains ground as oil prices rebound over $30 a barrel
US equity markets gained ground early on 3
February, with Wall Street looking to bring a two-day losing streak to a halt,
after a steady recovery in oil prices seemed to boost investors' confidence.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average was up 0.46% to 16,227.46, while the S&P 500 and the
Nasdaq were 0.34% and 0.27% higher respectively, with stocks on track to recoup
part of the previous session's energy stocks-driven losses.
Having fallen below the $30 (£20.6, €27.4) a
barrel threshold again on 2 February, oil prices rebounded, as Brent crude
gained 3.05% to $33.75 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose 2.89% to
$30.77 a barrel.
"Crude oil has been bouncing up and down
along with the rise and fall of rumours surrounding meetings about potential
production cuts," said CMC Markets analyst Colin Cieszynski.
"Yesterday's [2 February] denials sent
crude oil lower but signs that Russia still may be willing to talk if others
can agree shored up support."
On the macroeconomic front, private-sector
employment gains rose in January, albeit at a slower pace than in the prior
month. According to Automatic Data Processing, employers added 205,000 jobs in
January, while December 2015's figure was revised up to 267,000 from a prior
estimate of 257,000.
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New York stock exchange
New York stock exchange
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Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital
Economics, said the figure supported the estimate that the official non-farm
figures will show a 210,000 gain in overall employment when data is released at
the end of the current week.
"Monthly gains in employment of around
200,000 are still pretty impressive in an economy with a 5% unemployment
rate," he added. "Activity may be suffering a temporary blip, but the
labour market is doing fine."
Investors will also analyse the final reading
of Markit's January Purchasing Managers' Index for the service sector, which is
scheduled for release at 9.45am EST (2.45pm GMT), while the ISM
non-manufacturing index for the same month is released 15 minutes later.
Among individual stocks, Yahoo was on the
back foot after posting a $4.43bn loss for the fourth quarter, adding it will
layoff approximately 15% of its workforce as it considered strategic
alternatives" for its core internet business.
US-listed shares of German chemical company
Syngenta AG gained after China National Chemical Corp offered to buy the Swiss
chemical company in a cash deal worth $43bn, while drugmaker Merck & Co Inc
slid after its fourth-quarter sales fell short of estimates.
Elsewhere, Asian markets ended in the red,
taking their cue from Wall Street's decline in the previous session, while
European stocks were slightly lower. Midway through the afternoon, the UK's
FTSE 100 and the Pan European Stoxx 600 were both down 0.11%, while Germany's
Dax was 0.42% lower and France's CAC 40 was flat.
