By Saumya Vaishampayan
U.S. stock futures rose Wednesday, boosted by energy shares as
U.S. oil prices hit fresh five-month highs.
S&P 500 futures added seven points, or 0.3%, to 2091. E-mini
Dow futures rose 62 points, or 0.4%, to 17926. E-mini Nasdaq-100
futures gained six points, or 0.1%, to 4413. Changes in stock
futures don't always accurately predict moves in the stock market
after the opening bell.
Investors are looking ahead to a reading on private-sector
employment in April. Private payrolls are expected to increase
205,000 in April, according to economists surveyed by The Wall
Street Journal.
Crude-oil futures gained for the second straight session, up
2.1% to $61.67 a barrel, their highest level since December. Oil
prices have surged 42% from their 2015 settlement low of $43.46 on
March 17.
Oil prices buoyed energy stocks in premarket trading. Chevron
Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. were among the biggest gainers in the
Dow industrials ahead of the open, up 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.
In the S&P 500, Transocean Ltd. rose 2.1% premarket.
"Oil prices have shot up pretty quickly," said David O'Malley,
chief executive of Penn Mutual Asset Management, which has $20
billion under management. "This increase back to $60 a barrel
alleviates some of the fears" about what low oil prices could mean
for the fracking industry and more levered energy companies, he
added.
Mr. O'Malley said he expects stocks to decline for the year.
"Due to stretched valuations and ultimately rising interest rates,
stocks will have a hard time moving higher and will probably move a
little lower," he said. Still, he expects stocks of energy, metals
and mining companies to outperform the S&P 500.
Stocks fell Tuesday, with the Dow pulling back 0.8% to 17928.20.
The S&P declined 1.2% to 2089.46, giving up most of its gains
from a two-day winning streak ended Monday. For the year, the Dow
is up just 0.6% and the S&P has gained 1.5%, through Tuesday's
close.
European stocks rose, with Germany's DAX up 1% and France's CAC
40 gaining 0.7%. Concerns about Greece's financial situation
continued to weigh on government bonds. While Greece made a EUR200
million ($224 million) interest payment to the International
Monetary Fund on Wednesday, on schedule, the country has a much
bigger EUR750 million repayment deadline on May 12.
In commodity markets, gold futures slipped 0.4% to $1189.20 an
ounce. Treasury prices fell, pushing the 10-year yield up to 2.216%
from 2.174% on Tuesday.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
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