US open: Stocks rise as oil prices surge, dollar slips

US equity markets opened higher on Monday as oil prices surged, but the dollar fell back against other major currencies.

Trading was light as Thanksgiving approached on Thursday, with markets set to open for just a half-day on both 24 November and on the next day, Black Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising 0.27% to 18,918.20 points, the S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to 2,192.86 points, and the Nasdaq was up 0.68% to 5,357.74 points at 1450 GMT.

As of 1555 GMT, the US dollar spot index was off by 0.37% to 100.84.

Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex: said: “The Dow Jones also benefited from the dollar’s dip this Monday, the greenback maintained its 0.3% loss against the euro, with the US index rising nearly 40 points. That leaves the Dow around 20 points from a fresh all-time peak, though without much actual momentum to push it any higher.”

In commodity markets, gold on Comex was rising 0.46% to $1,241.30 per troy ounce at 1441 GMT.

Oil prices jumped amid expectations that OPEC members will agree to slash production at the cartel’s next meeting on 30 November.

Brent crude was up 3.04% to $48.33 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate climbed 2.89% to $47.74 at 1442 GMT.

Meanwhile, Stanley Fischer, the Federal Reserve vice chair, said certain fiscal policies could support the US economy by boosting productivity growth.

Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, he said: "Some combination of improved public infrastructure, better education, more encouragement for private investment, and more effective regulation all likely have a role to play in promoting faster growth of productivity and living standards.

“By raising equilibrium interest rates, such policies may also reduce the probability that the economy, and the Federal Reserve, will have to contend more than is necessary with the effective lower bound on interest rates.”

In corporate news, shares in Tyson Foods plunged 16.03% as the meat processor’s quarterly revenue came in lower than expected and that its chief executive Donnie Smith is to step down at the end of the year.

Sales fell 12.8% to $9.16bn for the final quarter of the fiscal year, below expectations of $9.38bn, while it earned 96 cents per share missing the $1.17 forecast from analysts on Wall Street.

Shares in identity theft protection services company LifeLock soared 15.13% after Symantec Corp agreed to buy it for $24 per share, or $2.3bn in enterprise value.

Headwaters’ shares also sprang 17.82% as Australia’s Boral signed a $1.86bn deal to buy the US building products company.

Facebook’s shares rose 2.49% following reports that the social media giant will hire 500 additional employees in the UK.