US open: Stocks in the black as UK votes on Brexit

Stocks on Wall Street advanced on Thursday as market participants bet the UK would vote to remain in the European Union in Thursday’s referendum.

At 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were up 0.7%, while the Nasdaq was 0.8% firmer.

At the same time, oil prices gained ground. West Texas Intermediate was up 1.2% to $49.73 a barrel and Brent crude was up 1.3% at $50.51.

Meanwhile, stocks in Europe were firmer but off earlier highs, with the pound holding at the $1.4800 level, having hit fresh highs for the year after the results of a poll by Ipsos Mori for the Evening Standard showed 52% of respondents supported the Remain campaign, with 48% on the Leave side.

The overall tone in markets was underpinned by the latest UK referendum polls, which showed a lead for the Remain campaign.

An online poll carried out by market research firm Populus and revealed on Twitter earlier showed that support for the Remain campaign in the European Union referendum at 55%, with 55% in favour of leaving. Populus said it surveyed 4,700 respondents on Tuesday up until midnight on Wednesday.

Earlier, the results of an Ipsos Mori poll for the Evening Standard put Remain in the lead at 52% and Leave at 48%.

Late on Wednesday, an Opinium survey gave the Leave campaign a one-point lead, at 45% to 44%, while a poll by TNS also showed Brexit was ahead at 43%, with Remain on 41%.

On the other hand, a ComRes survey for the Daily Mail and ITV News put Remain on 48% and Leave on 42%. Meanwhile, a YouGov poll gave Remain a two-point cushion, ahead of leave by 51% to 49%.

Also helping to lift sentiment was news that Betfair’s odds of a Remain vote had risen to 86% from 77%.

Despite the generally positive mood, stocks in Europe and the UK had started to ease back a little off their highs by afternoon trading, with market commentators arguing that volatility was likely and volumes were extremely low.

Traders said share trading across Europe was just a third of its normal level and two-thirds lower than average on the FTSE.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: “Today’s referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU is arguably the biggest risk event of the year and with a number of polls suggesting the race is neck and neck, I would expect the markets to be quite volatile at times over the next 24 hours.”

In corporate news, software company Red Hat was under the cosh, down 4.6% after it issued downbeat guidance for the year late on Wednesday.

Bank of America edged lower following reports the bank was moving closer to settling a case with US regulators.

Macy’s racked up healthy gains after it said chief executive officer Terry Lundgren will step down next year.

On the macroeconomic from, data from the Labor Department showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week.

US initial jobless claims declined by 18,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level to 259,000, beating expectations of a smaller drop to 270,000.

Elsewhere, figures from the Commerce Department showed sales of new US single-family homes declined more than expected in May.

New homes sales fell 6% from the downwardly-revised April rate of 586,000 to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 551,000. Economists had been expecting a drop to 560,000. April’s pace was revised down from 619,000.