US pre-open: Oil and tech set to boost markets
By Edward Swift
Date: Thursday 28 Jan 2016
(ShareCast News) - As oil prices stabilised and a number of tech companies rallied in pre-market trade, US stocks were set to open mostly higher on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was set to open down 14 points, but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were expected to start the session two and 24 points higher respectively.
Jobless claims data will be out at 1330 GMT as well as durable goods orders for December, while pending home sales data for December will be released at 1500 GMT.
Fed causes choppy trade in Asia
Elsewhere, Asia chopped around on Thursday on the possibility of the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates in March.
Data from CME Group showed investors and traders were picking a 29% likelihood of a rate increase at the March Fed meeting.
That was down from 34% before the Fed's statement on Wednesday, in which it signalled a March increase was still an option.
China also appeared to have taken cues from the US markets overnight, where the S&P 500 fell 1.09% after the Fed statement.
The central bank didn't quite go as far as saying the current economic and commodities climate was pushing the world towards muted activity and lower inflation.
European stocks fell into the red as investors digested a batch of disappointing corporate news, a weak reading on Eurozone confidence and the Federal Reserve statement
Oil was on the rise again, with Brent up 1.30% to $33.53 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate popped up 0.37% to $32.42.
The dollar was up 0.13% against the yen, but had dropped 0.41% against the pound and 0.12% against the euro. Spot gold was down 0.48% to $1,119.61.
In company news, Apple shares are expected to rebound slightly after they plunged in the previous session on news that iPhone sales grew at the slowest pace since its first model.
Amazon shares were up nearly 4% as analysts anticipate the online marketplace to more than quadruple its fourth quarter profits.
However, eBay shares plunged over 13% before the bell after reporting $2.32bn in sales in the fourth quarter, down $1m from a year before and a fourth straight quarterly drop.
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