US open: Stocks advance as oil prices surge

US stocks advanced on Thursday as oil prices rallied, with investors digesting mixed economic data following the Federal Reserve’s policy announcement.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.40%, the Nasdaq increased 0.42% and S&P 500 gained 0.11% at 1515 GMT.

Oil prices rose after Russia said it might cooperate with Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries to control global oversupply.

West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 4.1% to $33.71 per barrel and Brent increased 4.5% to $34.67 per barrel at 1524 GMT.

In economic data, the Commerce Department revealed US durable orders dropped 5.1% last month, more than the 0.7% that was forecast and compared to the 0.5% decrease in November.

US jobless claims fell by 16,000 to 278,000 in the week ending 23 January from an upwardly-revised 294,000 the previous week, the Labor Department revealed. Economists had been expecting claims to come in at 282,000.

US pending home sales nudged up just a touch in December, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. The NAR’s monthly index rose just 0.1% to 106.8 in December from a downwardly-revised 106.7 the previous month, as a large increase in the Northeast outpaced declines in the other three major regions. This fell well short of economists’ expectations for a 0.8% increase.

The mixed data comes after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, saying it would continue to monitor global economic and financial developments.

“While it did claim it is monitoring global economic and financial developments, it didn’t indicate that recent events have necessarily changed their intentions,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

Looking ahead, US gross domestic product data on Friday is expected to show an annualised 0.8% increase in the last three months of the year, down from 2% growth in the third quarter.

In company news, Facebook’s shares jumped after it reported an increase in earnings that topped analysts’ estimates.

Amazon gained as analysts anticipate the online marketplace to more than quadruple its fourth quarter profits.

However, eBay plunged after reporting $2.32bn in sales in the fourth quarter, down $1m from a year before and a fourth straight quarterly drop.

The US dollar fell 1.04% against the pound and dropped 0.44% against the euro but rose 0.04% against the yen.