United States stocks open higher, on track to end week with gains

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite closed 40 points, or 0.9%, higher at 4,582.

Despite a 6.4% drop in shares that trade in mainland China, in pre-market trading 60 minutes before the opening bell the Dow Jones industrial average was trading unchanged.

Core inflation, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures price index, was up 1.7 percent year-on-year in January, getting closer to the Fed’s 2.0 percent target. Boeing pared losses to a 1.1 per cent decline, and General Electric shed 0.9 per cent.

The Nasdaq is down 425.21 points, or 8.5 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 33.92 points, or 1.8 per cent.

Overnight, the Shanghai Composite clawed back 26 points of the previous day’s heavy losses, after some soothing words from Zhou Xiaochuan, the head of China’s central bank.

The recovery in oil prices sparked a stock-market rebound for a second session in a row.

Stocks in recent weeks have increasingly taken their cues instead from the volatile energy markets, as swings in the oil price ripple across risky assets such as stocks, high-yield debt and base metals prices.

The S&P 500 is down 122.67 points, or 6 percent.

China was expected to address the widespread anxiety about the state of its economy and financial markets at the meeting.

U.S. stocks continued to rebound on 25 February, closing with significant gains after Venezuela confirmed major oil producers would meet in March. Bank stocks are often a proxy for how well an economy is expected to do, since loans can sour during an economic slowdown.

Many investors expect gains in the price of oil to alleviate some pressure on the energy sector, its lenders and energy-dependent economies. He said that the market should instead let some operators go out of business.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell 1.24 percent to end at 20.72 Wednesday. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 19 cents to close at $35.10.

The Nasdaq is up 77.77 points, or 1.7 per cent.

In the late NY trading, the euro fell to $1.1013 from $1.1014 in the previous session, while the dollar bought 111.77 Japanese yen, lower than 112.00 yen of the previous session.