US open: Stocks advance as oil prices eke out small gains

Shortly before 1500 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 69 points to 17,636.51, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were five points higher and 12 points lower respectively.

In company news, energy giant Kinder Morgan surged 8.33% despite slashing its dividend late on Tuesday, while Alibaba climbed 0.21% after Yahoo halted the spinoff of its stake in the Chinese e-commerce firm.

Yahoo shares were up 1.12%, while Lululemon Athletica slumped 5.97% after reporting weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue.

Dow Chemical jumped 11.1% following reports it was in advanced talks to complete a merger with DuPont,while Costco Wholesale tumbled 5.63% after posting quarterly profit that missed expectations.

On the macroeconomic front, applications for US home mortgages rose last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its seasonally adjusted index of application activity, which covers home purchase demand and refinancing demand, climbed 1.2% in the week ended 4 December.

Still to come on economic calendar, October figures on wholesale inventories are released at 1500 GMT.

Elsewhere, Asian stocks declined for a second consecutive, despite better-than-expected economic data from Japan and China.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics earlier in the session, China registered its 45th consecutive month of producer-price deflation, as producer prices declined 5.9% year-on-year in November, in line with the decline registered in October and slightly better than the 6% drop analysts had expected.

Meanwhile, the consumer price index rose 1.5% year-on-year last month, beating expectations for a 1.4% gain and up from the 1.3% advance recorded in October.

“An acceleration in monetary growth and strong wage growth will stoke broader price pressures,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics.

“With the sharp falls in the price of oil and other commodities at the end of last year now starting to drop out of the base for comparison, both CPI and PPI are set to pick-up markedly over the coming months, easing concerns over deflation.”

European stocks were on the back foot, while oil prices posted a modest uptick after the selloff of the last couple of days, with West Texas Intermediate rising 1.21% to $37.97 a barrel, while Brent crude climbed 1.01% to $40.67 a barrel.

The dollar was on the back foot against the main currencies, falling 0.65% and 0.67% against the euro and the yen respectively and losing 0.75% against the pound, while gold spot rose 0.65% to $1,081.97.