United States stocks open higher; crude oil rebounds

Oil stocks such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell recovered as oil prices edged away from multi-year lows on Tuesday. The S&P 500 gained 16 points to 2021, while the NASDAQ added 46 points to 4969.

Crude oil continued to decline, nearing levels not experienced since the financial crisis. Crude oil was down 37 cents, or 1 percent, to $35.71 a barrel.

Energy stocks continued to fade as a result, making it the only part of the S&P 500 that was lower.

CODE BREAK: Juniper Networks fell $1.53, or 5 percent, to $27.15 after the company disclosed that it had found “unauthorized code” in the operating systems of some of its products that could allow hackers to bypass a company’s security. Newfield Exploration dropped 4 percent and ConocoPhillips fell 2 percent.

The US stock market suffered the Federal Reserve’s interest rates hike decision last week, but it started to rebound early Monday morning. On Friday, U.S. stocks plunged as many traders booked profits accumulated when the Fed finally ended the uncertainty over its intentions. Apple rose 1.2 per cent as it reached an agreement with Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson to settle several patent disputes. Investors often interpret analyst opinions from different angles – a popular analyst pick could mean that many sharp minds individually came to the same bullish conclusion, and therefore the stock should do well, but it could also mean that if the company stumbles, that would come as a negative surprise. Spanish stocks fell sharply after an election saw the ruling party lose its overall majority amid a groundswell of support for two upstart parties.

The report showed personal consumption, which drives about two-thirds of the activity in the USA economy, rose by an estimated 3.0 percent. The blue-chip index gained 122.87 points or 0.7% to 17,251.42. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index NQH6, -0.05% gave up 14.75 points, or 0.3%, to 4,548.25. Seoul’s Kospi advanced 0.3 percent to 1,981.19, while Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 was unchanged at 5,109.00.