Dow jumps 200 as oil gains on Iran comments; S&P dips out of correction

都唔知發生乜事, 油價升帶歐美股市升, 但金銀價又升 !

finance.yahoo.com

U.S. stocks traded higher Wednesday, trying for a three-day win streak, helped by a rise in oil prices and some encouraging economic data ahead of the afternoon release of the Fed meeting minutes.

U.S. crude oil futures rose, briefly trading more than 5 percent higher above $30.50 a barrel in mid-morning trade.

Reuters, citing the Iranian oil ministry's official Shana news agency, reported Iran Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said he supports any effort to stabilize the market and prices. The Iran oil minister also said in the report the Tehran oil producers meeting was good.

Zanganeh did not explicitly say in his remarks quoted by Shana that Iran would keep its own output at its January level.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than 200 points in morning trade with Boeing (BA) the top contributor to gains. The Dow transports gained more than 1.5 percent.

The S&P 500 topped the psychologically key 1,900 level in intraday trade for the first time since Feb. 5 and briefly came within 10 percent of its 52-week intraday high, out of correction territory. Materials and energy led advancers.

John Caruso, senior market strategist at RJO Futures, said some of the gains could be "front-running a dovish FOMC minutes" as well as positive reaction to industrial production and inflation data.

However, he attributed most of the mid-morning rally to a short squeeze. "I do believe this rally is going to run out of steam pretty soon. We have got some irrational exuberance going on over here," he said.

In economic news, industrial production for January rose 0.9 percent, while capacity utilization was 77.1 percent.

"I think the recent macro indicators we have received have been sufficiently positive to provide a lift to equities for now," John Lonski, chief economist at Moody's, said, noting Friday's better-than-expected retail sales and Wednesday's industrial production report.

"We have indications that U.S. spending will provide sufficient buoyancy to corporate revenues and profitability in 2016," he said. "Nevertheless, the performance by both categories will be below average for an economic recovery."

U.S. producer prices unexpectedly rose last month, rising 0.1 percent after falling 0.2 percent in December. Excluding food and energy, PPI rose 0.4 percent. 

Housing starts fell 3.8 percent in January, while building permits fell 0.2 percent.

Treasury yields edged higher after the data, with the 2-year yield at 0.74 percent and the 10-year yield at 1.81 percent.

The U.S. dollar index traded mildly higher against major world currencies, with the euro at $1.11 and the yen at 114.25 yen against the greenback.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the minutes from its latest meeting at 2 p.m. ET. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is due to speak after the market close.

The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 were on track for their first three-day win streak of 2016.

"The S&P futures are seeing positive follow-through this morning after a strong close yesterday," BTIG Chief Technical Strategist Katie Stockton said in a note. 

"The oversold bounce is supported by short-term positive divergences in our most sensitive momentum indicators. We expect the rally to persist into next week, but we would use it to take down exposure to stocks that have broken down."

In morning trade, the Dow Jones industrial average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) gained 122 points, or 0.74 percent, to 16,317, with Caterpillar (CAT) leading advancers and McDonald's (MCD) the only decliner.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) traded up 16 points, or 0.83 percent, to 1,911, with financials leading nine sectors higher and utilities the only decliner.

The Nasdaq (^IXIC) composite gained 42 points, or 0.96 percent, to 4,478.

About eight stocks advanced for every decliner on the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of 69 million and a composite volume of 193 million in morning trade.

Crude oil futures for March delivery gained 63 cents to $29.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold futures for April delivery gained 10 cents to $1,208.40 an ounce as of 9:39 a.m. ET.

Reuters contributed to this report.