US open: Stocks rise as traders mull presidential debate

US stocks rose as oil prices gained and investors digested the second presidential debate.

At 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.79% to 18,384.96 points, the S&P 500 increased 0.69% to 2,168.76 points and Nasdaq edged up 0.84% to 5,337.45 points.

At the same time oil prices jumped after Russia President Vladimir Putin told an energy congress in Turkey that the nation was ready to join OPEC in proposed curb on production.

Brent crude rose 3.2% to $53.67 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate increased 3.3% to $51.54 per barrel.

With little on the agenda due to Columbus Day in the US, traders continued to mull Sunday’s debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Trump. While analysts were mixed on who won the debate, the recent scandal surrounding Trump’s inappropriate comments about women has seen Clinton slightly increase her lead in the polls.

“The overall market reaction to Round 2 of the Presidential Debate is far less volatile to what we experienced at the end of Round 1, although this could be because the race to who could possibly win the US election was far closer at that time,” said FXTM vice president of market research Jameel Ahmad.

“Donald Trump appears to have now managed to alienate himself from his own political party, with the feeling in the air being that the comments released from a 2005 recording has gone some distance towards self-destructing his own presidential campaign.”

The Mexican peso rose 2.45% against the dollar to $0.05310.

In corporate news, Deutsche Bank US shares recovered after investors were left disappointed that chief executive John Cryan did not strike a deal with US authorities over the $14bn Department of Justice fine for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities, after he attended the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s autumn meetings in Washington.

The Financial Times reported on Monday that Deutsche was given special treatment in the European bank stress tests carried out over the summer.

According to the FT, the lender, which has been using the results of the July stress tests as evidence of its healthy finances, was boosted by a special concession agreed by its supervisor, the European Central Bank.

Elsewhere, Mylan rallied following news of a settlement in the company’s EpiPen pricing controversy.

Twitter Inc. slumped after Bloomberg reported the social media company is unlikely to attract any takeover bids.

Dover Corp. was on the back foot as the group cut its full year sales and profit outlook.

Netflix shares declined after Deutsche Bank initiated its rating of the stock at ‘sell’ with a $90 price target, citing worries that market expectations for the video streaming service are too high.