Business International

Global stocks, oil rally on hopes of crude output cut

Image: An investor looks at an electronic screen showing stock information at a brokerage house in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, January 26, 2016.. REUTERS/China Daily

 

By Richard Leong

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock and oil prices rebounded in choppy trading on Tuesday on hopes oil producers will cut output to address the supply glut that has punished equity markets and pushed crude values to 12-year lows.

Bets that oil exporters could reduce production helped scale back some demand for low-risk yen and U.S. and German government debt, but it remained unclear whether a deal could be reached and would be enough to soothe jittery investors.

“This is a schizophrenic market. Big up days, big down days. No real direction,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.

Investors also awaited more clues to whether the Federal Reserve and other central banks will help stabilize markets that have been roiled partly due to worries about weakening economic growth in China.

The U.S. central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged after its two-day policy meeting that began Tuesday and signal it may not raise rates until mid-2016 at the earliest.

Top OPEC and Russian oil industry officials stepped up vague talk on Monday of possible joint action to remedy one of the worst supply gluts in decades. Others, including Kuwait, said they doubt it will happen as long as others are increasing their output.

Brent crude futures gained $1.30, or 4.26 percent, at $31.80 a barrel and U.S. crude climbed $1.11, or 3.66 percent, at $31.45. Both retreated from their strongest levels before the day’s close.

The oil rebound revived some appetite for stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 282.01 points, or 1.78 percent, to 16,167.23, the S&P 500 gained 26.55 points, or 1.41 percent, to 1,903.63 and the Nasdaq Composite added 49.18 points, or 1.09 percent, to 4,567.67.

Some nervousness ahead of Apple’s quarterly results later Tuesday, which are expected to show a sharp drop in iPhone’sales, was mitigated by encouraging U.S. data on home prices and consumer confidence.

Apple shares were up 0.6 percent at $99.99.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed up 0.9 percent at 1,335.90.

Tokyo’s Nikkei ended 2.4-percent weaker, part of a broad decline across Asia.

Mainland Chinese shares tumbled more than 6 percent to a 14-month low on renewed jitters over Beijing’s ability to calm domestic markets.

The yen was initially stronger against the dollar and euro but reversed those gains with the rebound in stock and oil prices. It was last down 0.1 percent against the greenback at 118.43 yen and down 0.2 percent versus the euro at 128.54 yen.

The dollar was weaker against a basket of currencies, ending down 0.3 percent at 99.055.
Nagging worries about falling oil prices and the global economy underpinned demand for U.S. and German government bonds.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yield dipped 2 basis points to 2.001 percent. The 10-year Bund yield declined 3 basis points to 0.443 percent..

Spot gold prices rose for a second day. It was last up $13.45 or 1.21 percent, to $1,121.11 an ounce.

(Additional reporting by Noel Randewich in San Francisco, Abhiram Nanadakumar in Bengaluru,; Marc Jones, Anirban Nag in London, Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo, Meeyoung Cho in Seoul; Editing by Louise Ireland and Nick Zieminski)

Copyright 2015 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

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