US pre-open: Stocks seen slightly lower as investors eye oil

US futures pointed to a slightly weaker open on Wall Street as traders returned to their desks following the Thanksgiving holiday, with oil prices firmly in focus ahead of a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Wednesday.

At 1100 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were down 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures were off 0.2%.

Meanwhile, oil prices were off lows, with West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude down 0.2% to $45.96 a barrel and $47.16, respectively. Prices fell sharply on Friday after Saudi Arabia said it wouldn’t meet with non-OPEC Russia ahead of the OPEC summit in Vienna as originally planned.

Saudi Arabia, which is the world’s largest oil producer, said it would not attend the meeting unless there was “a clear decision from OPEC” on production cuts.

However, a report in the Financial Times on Monday suggested Saudi has offered to cut its production by 4.5% from its current level of 10.5m barrels a day. It was also said to have demanded that Iran’s production be frozen at the current level of 3.8m barrels per day.

Remo Fritschi, institutional sales manager at ADS Securities London, said: “With the Dow having closed after Friday’s shortened session at fresh all-time highs, the questions that had been building for some days were just how high could this go and when would we reach the tipping point. The big overhang appears to be concern that this week’s OPEC summit in Vienna may not produce the output compromise that many had already started pricing into the market.

“Looking further ahead there’s the US non-farm payroll data on Friday but it seems that the most likely outcome here will be reinforcing the prospect of a Federal reserve rate hike before Christmas, whilst concerns over what the Italian referendum means for the domestic banks could start to hit confidence in the sector further afield, too.”

In Europe, the main indices were a little weaker, but Italy’s FTSE MIB was the standout loser as bank stocks tanked amid worries the country’s upcoming referendum on constitutional reform could precipitate the fall of Prime Minister Renzi’s government.

On the US corporate front, Schlumberger could be in focus after the oil driller signed a preliminary deal to study an Iranian oil field.

Samsung Electronics was also likely to be in the spotlight following reports it is considering splitting into two companies.

In currency markets, the dollar was mostly weaker against its rivals, taking a breather as investors booked some profits ahead of a data-packed week. The greenback was 0.4% firmer against the pound, but 0.4% weaker versus the euro and 1% lower compared to the yen.

There are no US data releases of note due on Monday.