US pre-open: Stocks seen touch higher as oil surges on OPEC optimism

US futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street as oil prices surged amid signs that OPEC is close to agreeing a deal on production.

At 1130 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq futures were up 0.1%, while S&P 500 futures were 0.2% firmer.

Meanwhile, oil prices surged amid growing expectations that the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will be able to agree on a production cut at their meeting in Vienna, after the Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih said members were “getting close to a deal”.

Earlier, Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, said he reckoned a deal could be reached, although an immediate freeze by Iran wasn’t on the agenda. OPEC began their meeting at 0900 GMT

West Texas Intermediate was up 6.7% to $48.26 a barrel and Brent crude was 7% firmer at $49.62.

CMC Markets’ Jasper Lawler said: “Confident statements from Saudi and Iranian oil ministers raised hopes OPEC will strong together the deal agreed in principle at its last meeting in Algiers. Saudi Arabia appears willing to take “a big hit” in slashing output but wants some cooperation from others if it is to do so. That would include a 600k barrels per day cut from non-OPEC, something Russia has said from the offset it won’t contribute to.”

The ADP employment report is due to be released ahead of the open, along with the PCE deflator and personal income and spending figures.

Remo Fritschi, institutional sales manager at ADS Securities London, said: “This is where the bigger risk to stocks could lie and anything that looks as if the US economy may be growing too quickly may play to a more hawkish approach from the Fed in 2017, in turn weighing on equities.”

Societe Generale expects real personal spending to increase by 0.3% month-on-month, reflecting healthy income gains. Meanwhile, it said growth in the core PCE deflator should accelerate to 1.8% year-on-year, its highest level since 2012, underscoring the comeback in inflation.

On the corporate front, Praxair was likely to be in focus after confirming it has approached German rival Linde AG about resuming discussions regarding a potential offer. The two companies abandoned merger talks back in September after they failed to agree on certain details of a deal, particularly about governance.

Elsewhere, Splunk Inc racked up healthy gains in pre-market trade after it lifted its outlook for the year late on Tuesday, but design software maker Autodesk was set to go the other way after its guidance for the current quarter left investors disappointed.

As well as the data releases, investors will be eyeing speeches from Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan and Fed governor Jerome Powell later in the day.