US open: Stocks edge higher, alongside gains for crude

Wall Street was sporting modest gains in early trading in New York, despite the release of a mixed report on the state of the country´s labour market.

As of 16:30 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was rising by 0.31% or 55.67 points to 17,993.95, the S&P 500 was tacking on 0.22% or 4.71 points taking it to 2,116.88 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.21% or 10.20 points to 4,971.81.

Oil prices were holding higher despite the release of a rather neutral set of weekly statistics on commercial US oil inventories.

Crude stockpiles declined by 3.2m barrels, the Energy Information Administration reported, but that came alongside offsetting product builds.

West Texas Intermediate crude was up by 1.27% to $51.01 per barrel on the NYMEX and Brent gained 1.49% to $52.22 per barrel.

The US dollar spot index was 0.36% lower at 93.49.

The number of job openings in the US increased from 5.67m to 5.788m in April, matching the cycle-high hit in July 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics´s JOLTS survey. Economists had been expecting a reading of 5.675m.

However, hiring (5.092mn, previous: 5.29mn) slowed down significantly for a second month in a row in April, from 5.29m in March to 5.09m in April.

"This morning’s report provides further support for the negative signal from May payrolls. That said, the information gain from the JOLTS data is marginal, as these data are revised by the BLS to be consistent with the establishment survey. Next month’s payroll report, as well as weekly unemployment insurance data, will provide the next major indications on the state of US labor markets and the broader economy," Barclays´s Jesse Hurwitz said.

Meanwhile, US mortgage applications rose 9.3% in the week to 3 June, compared to a 4.1% fall the previous week, the Mortgage Bankers’ Association revealed.

On the corporate front, Lululemon Athletica shares fell in in pre-market trade after the yoga clothing retailer reported a second-quarter sales forecast that was well below analysts’ expectations.

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment rallied as it raised its annual outlook and said the board approved a $100m share buyback plan.

UnitedHealth Group declined as it raised its quarterly dividend by 25%.

Gevo Inc. surged after saying on Tuesday the first two commercials flights using its renewable alcohol to jet fuel technology were used by Alaska Airlines.

From a sector standpoint the best performing industry groups were: Industrial&Metals (3.65%), Iron&Steel (3.63%) and Forestry&Paper (2.33%).