US open: Stocks mostly higher on hope of rescue for Italy's banks

US equity markets were mostly higher on Wednesday on the coattails of its European peers which advanced on the hope of bailout for its struggling banks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.06% to 19,263.88 points, the S&P 500 crept up 0.02% to 2,212.77 points, but the Nasdaq fell 0.17% to 5,3324 points at 1515 GMT.

In Europe, the main indices were all firmly in the green, including Milan’s FTSE MIB index which was up 1.44%, amid hopes of a state bailout for Italy’s third largest lender, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

Investors were also betting that the European Central Bank will announce an extension of its bond-buying quantitative easing programme on Thursday when it makes its latest rate announcement.

Shares in Monte dei Paschi di Siena surged 8.99% after La Stampa reported that Italy could ask for a €15bn European Stability Mechanism loan to help it and other beleaguered Italian banks.

Connor Campbell, market analyst at Spreadex, said: “The continued lack of fuss following the Italian referendum result, combined with the prospect of a Monte dei Paschi bailout (potentially as soon as this week), has led the European indices to a bevy of highs this afternoon.

“All this European optimism had little effect on the Dow Jones, which managed a mere 15 point rise after the bell. Nevertheless, even such slender growth would still see the index on track to close at yet another record high despite the proximity of a long-awaited rate hike from the Federal Reserve (which, if market predictions prove to be correct, should arrive a week today).”

Elsewhere, the Bank of Canada kept interest rates at 0.5% as expected.

In currency markets, the dollar was trading down 0.19% to 0.9312 versus the euro, but rose 0.01% to 114.03 against the yen and was up 0.56% to 0.7932 versus sterling.

In commodity markets, oil prices retreated as the Energy Information Administration increased its domestic output forecast to 8.78m barrels a day for 2017, from the 8.73m projected in November. It also raised the 2016 forecast to 8.86m from 8.84m.

Brent crude was down 1.03% to $53.38 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was lower by 1.17% to $50.34 at 1435 GMT.

Gold on Comex rose 0.8% to 1,179.50 per troy ounce at 1424 GMT.

On the corporate front, the maker of Jack Daniel’s whiskey Brown-Forman slid 0.81% as it cut its revenue outlook as sales fell. The company took of 1% on the its forecast and now expects sales to grow between 4-5% this year, after sales second quarter sales, after taxes dropped 2.8% to $830m, compared to last year.

Handbag retailer Vera Bradley dove 9% as it also lowered its full year outlook after comparable sales fell 5.7% in the third quarter. It revised its full-year forecast to earnings of 62 cents to 65 cents a share on revenue of $486m to $491m.

Later in the day, data for US consumer credit will be released at 2000 GMT.