US open: Stocks rebound as oil prices waver
US stocks rebounded on Friday from the previous day’s slump as investors’ nerves eased after the Federal Reserve’s hawkish meeting minutes.
At 1506 BST the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.66%, the S&P 500 rose 0.71% and the Nasdaq gained 1.08%.
Equities were in the red on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s last meeting showed a possibility of an interest rate hike in June.
However, stocks recovered on Friday as oil prices wavered but stayed on track to end the week higher. Crude prices were lifted as the global supply glut eased due to a series of production outages in Nigeria, Canada and Libya.
West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.18% to $48.76 per barrel while Brent crude fell 0.02% to $48.80 per barrel at 1510 BST.
In economic data, sales of existing US homes rose 1.7% in April to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.45m from an upwardly-revised 5.36m the previous month, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The jump was bigger than the 1.2% increase analysts had pencilled in.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said April’s sales increase signals slowly building momentum for the housing market this spring.
"Primarily driven by a convincing jump in the Midwest, where home prices are most affordable, sales activity overall was at a healthy pace last month as very low mortgage rates and modest seasonal inventory gains encouraged more households to search for and close on a home.”
In company news, Foot Locker declined after reporting first quarter sales at comparable sales that missed analysts’ estimates.
Campbell Soup Company was also under the cosh after reporting weak organic sales in the third quarter.
Deere & Co. slumped after cutting their profit outlook and reported a decline in quarterly earnings.
Gap advanced after saying late on Thursday that it was closing all its Old Navy stores in Japan and posting a 47% drop in first-quarter profit.
Electric car maker Tesla Motors was also higher following media reports it has raised $1.46bn in capital from the sale of new common stock.
Yahoo dropped following a press report that bidders for the company were likely to bid less than initially thought.
In currencies, the dollar rose 0.63% against the pound, fell 0.07% against the euro and gained 0.55% against the yen.