US pre-open: Stocks seen flat as oil prices push lower

US futures pointed to a broadly flat open on Wall Street amid weaker oil prices.

At 1110 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were all down just 0.1%.

Meanwhile, stocks in Europe were a touch lower, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 index off 0.3%, France’s CAC 40 down 0.2% and Germany’s DAX down 0.1%.

Oil prices pushed lower after oil workers in Kuwait agreed to end their three-day strike, returning output to normal levels.

West Texas Intermediate was down 2.3% to $40.13 a barrel while Brent crude was off 1.9% to $43.20.

“Yesterday’s surge in oil prices was ultimately down to a weaker dollar and misplaced hopes that the Kuwaiti strike might continue and thus put a dent in the present supply glut so little surprise this morning that oil is down…on news that Kuwait workers ended their strike,” said Brenda Kelly, head of analysts at London Capital Group.

“The weakening dollar is still the main story here. Given that the dollar index is approaching pivotal levels on foot of weaker US macro data, any additional bad news might be the nail in the coffin for Fed hawks. Various Fed members have attempted to berate present market expectations as wide off the mark – the market is still dubious, with few expecting any further tightening until the second half of 2016.”

On the corporate front, investors will eye the release of earnings reports from Coca-Cola and Supervalu Inc., while results from American Express are due after the close.

Shares in Intel Corp were lower in pre-market trade after it announced late on Tuesday that it plans to cut 12,000 jobs and reported a 3% rise in first-quarter profit to $2.05bn.

On the data calendar, US existing home sales are due at 1500 BST.

“Watch US existing home sales after the weak starts and permits data yesterday and US oil inventories will be of interest after another big build in API data last night showing we are still swimming in the stuff amid a global supply glut,” said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

The Energy Information Administration’s crude oil stocks report is due at 1530 BST.