US open: Stocks rise as Morgan Stanley's profit climb

US stocks rose on Wednesday in the run-up to the final presidential election in Las Vegas while banking giant Morgan Stanley’s profit jumped due to a bond trading comeback.

At 1554 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4%, the S&P 500 rose 0.29% and the Nasdaq climbed 0.08%.

Oil prices rose after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Khalid Al-Falih said many countries outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were prepared to join an output deal to cut production in order to steady the market.

Brent crude rose 2.5% to $53.05 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was up 2.9% to $51.84 per barrel.

Soothing worries about a global supply glut elsewhere, official data showed weekly US crude inventories fell last week. US crude inventories fell 5.2 million barrels to 468.7 million barrels in the week to 14 October, the Energy Information Administration said.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is currently six points ahead of Donald Trump, according to the weekly NBC News/Survey Monkey poll as they clash in the third and final presidential debate at the University of Nevada at 0200 BST.

“Markets have been very responsive to how the election campaign has gone so far, particularly those most vulnerable to the outcome such as Mexico, with the Peso experiencing large amounts of volatility,” Craig Erlam, chief analyst at Oanda said.

“Should Trump once again fail to secure a victory in tonight’s debate, it could aid risk appetite heading into tomorrow’s session and provide another boost for the Peso.”

Shares in Morgan Stanley rose 0.43% at 1010 EDT after it reported better than expected third quarter results, following Goldman Sachs’ results on Tuesday.

Revenues at the Wall Street bank rose 15% to $8.9bn, compared to the previous quarter as analysts expected revenue of $8.2bn.

While earnings applicable to shareholders rose 62% to $1.5bn. Earnings per share rose to 81 cents from 48 cents, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of 63 cents per share.

Meanwhile, data from the Commerce Department revealed that housing starts fell 9% in September, the second straight month, to a yearly rate of 1.047m.

However, building permits for privately owned housing units increased by 6.3% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted 1.225m.

The Federal Reserve is to release the Beige Book, which summarises the economic conditions of the country, at 1900 BST followed by New York Fed president William Dudley who will speak at the Lotos Club at 0045 BST.

The Fed’s John Williams said earlier that the central bank was not as diverse as it should be but did not comment on monetary policy.

For companies, shares in oil field company Halliburton climbed 5.35% as it posted a surprise quarterly profit, whereas tobacco company Reynolds American’s shares fell 2.35% as third quarter results missed analyst expectations while cigarette volumes decreased.