US open: Wall Street little changed as oil prices stabilise

Wall Street's main indices were little changed in early trading as oil prices recovered their footing and against a backdrop of solid readings on the jobs and housing markets.

At 1504 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by just 0.01% or 1.75 points at 21,415, while the S&P 500 was down by 0.03% to 6,227 and the Nasdaq Composite was declining 0.12% to 6,227.

From a sector standpoint, biotechnology shares were doing best, advancing 3.43% alongside gains of 1.95% for Pharma shares and a 0.89% advance for Clothing&Accesories (0.89%).

Meanwhile, oil prices were recovering from Wednesday's heavy losses, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.9% to $42.90 a barrel and Brent crude rising 1.3% to $45.21.

Prices slipped into bear market territory earlier in the week amid worries about growing supply from Nigeria, Libya and the US. They briefly gained ground on Wednesday following a report that Iran's oil minister said Iran and other OPEC members were mulling further cuts, but later fell back.

Market participants were still waiting for Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell to begin his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on bank reform.

In an interview with the FT, Philly Fed chief Patrick Harker said it would be prudent to wait until December before hiking interest rates again.

Meanwhile, and in economic news, home prices in the US increased by 0.7% month-on-month in April (consensus: 0.5%), according to the FHFA.

In parallel, the Department of Labor reported that initial jobless claims for the week ending on 16 June edged higher by 3,000 to 241,000 (consensus: 240,000).

On the corporate front, stock in Oracle was sharply higher after the software-maker's Co-chief executive officer, Safra Catz, guided towards full-year sales growth next year of between 4% and 6%.

Dow Jones - Risers

Visa Inc. (V) $94.54 0.00%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $153.82 0.00%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $89.40 0.00%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.58 0.00%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $76.24 0.00%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $87.12 0.00%
American Express Co. (AXP) $82.21 0.00%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $81.44 0.00%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $45.41 0.00%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $184.92 0.00%