Easing in oil prices lead stocks on rising (ISFM) (09-03-2011)

Markets appeared ready to send stocks higher at the start of trading on Wednesday as oil prices eased back from two-year highs. A two-day’s losing streak was snapped on Tuesday following Kuwait's oil minister announcement that OPEC members are discussing raising oil output.

Crude oil hovered near $105 a barrel on Wednesday morning after briefly nearing $107 earlier in the week as the political unrest in Libya raised concerns about a drop in oil production, leading to a surge in crude prices. Nymex April crude-oil futures fell down 20 cents to $104.81 a barrel on Globex.

The majority of Asian stocks were in advance with shares in Tokyo looking past a major earthquake off Japan’s northern coast and cheering upbeat machinery-orders data. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.6% while European stocks appeared also higher with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.4% in midday trade. Shares of EADS NV jumped on results and Rolls-Royce Group PLC rose on news of a joint venture though bank and energy stocks were in decline.

The lead March Japanese government bond futures contract was down 0.17 at 139.42 points, while the yield on the 10-year cash JGB was up 0.5 basis point at 1.295%, following weakness in U.S. Treasurys on Tuesday.

U.S. stock futures rose Wednesday, extending the previous session’s rally, as Wall Street marked the second anniversary of the bull market.

Source: ISFM