By Ellie Ismailidou and Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch

Oil climbs as inventories decline; Hewlett Packard Enterprise surges; Tiffany, Alibaba, Express tumble

U.S. stock futures extended gains Wednesday ahead of the opening bell, putting the main benchmarks on track for another rally after logging the best daily gains in nearly three months on Tuesday.

S&P 500 futures gained 8 points, or 0.4%, to 2,083, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 67 points, or 0.4%, to 17,754. Nasdaq-100 futures tacked on 20 points, or 0.5%, to 4,466.

A surge in oil prices, which approached $50 a barrel after an industry group reported a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-oil-rockets-to-near-50-a-barrel-as-data-hints-at-us-supply-drop-2016-05-25), boosted risk appetite Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, investors shrugged off a report that showed the nation's trade deficit widened in April (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-goods-deficit-shows-higher-trade-gap-in-april-2016-05-25), as imports increased faster than exports.

"Traders continue to view the [Federal Reserve] moving toward an interest-rate increase as a positive sign that the U.S. economy is strong and overseas economic risks are fading, setting up a positive environment for corporate earnings growth," said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, in emailed comments.

The surge in risk appetite, according to Cieszynski, weighed on gold futures as capital continued to leave defensive havens, like gold and U.S. Treasurys , for more aggressive positions.

Wednesday's moves came after a session earlier, the S&P 500 gained 1.4% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-rise-putting-dow-on-pace-to-recover-2016-05-24), while the Dow jumped by 1.2%, or 213.12 points, as a rally in financial and tech stocks underpinned a sharp and broad advance.

Still, some analysts appeared baffled at the market's strong gains ahead of a potential interest-rate hike that could come as soon as June.

"I really am trying to get my head around the newfound euphoria," said David Buik, market commentor for Panmure Gordon & Co. "Yes, I get the learning to live with a 25-basis-point U.S. Fed rate hike in June or July ... but I wonder!"

Other markets: Oil futures traded higher, with West Texas Intermediate crude briefly rising as high as $49.45 a barrel, according to FactSet data. European stocks were advancing, while Asian markets mostly closed higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-stocks-boosted-by-strong-oil-prices-upbeat-us-data-2016-05-25). Gold futures were losing ground, and the ICE U.S. Dollar Index inched lower.

Read:Citi expects Brent crude to reach $50 a barrel in the third quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-age-for-oil-prompts-citi-to-raise-2017-forecast-to-65-2016-05-24)

Economic news: At 10:30 a.m. Eastern, a weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is due from the Energy Information Administration.

Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker is due to give a speech on the economy and monetary policy at 9 a.m. Eastern, while Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari has been expected to talk at 11:40 a.m. about the energy sector and monetary policy. At 1:30 p.m. Eastern, Dallas Fed President Steven Kaplan has been slated to take part in a moderated question-and-answer session. None of the speakers is currently a voting member of the Fed.

Individual movers: Shares in Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.(HPE) surged 14.2% in premarket action for the S&P 500's biggest gain. The company late Tuesday said it will spin off its enterprise services business and merge it (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hp-enterprise-to-spin-off-merge-services-business-2016-05-24-164855124) with Computer Sciences Corp.(CSC)

Read:Hewlett Packard Enterprise -- another day, another spinoff? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hewlett-packard-enterprise-another-day-another-spinoff-2016-05-24)

Microsoft Corp. shares (MSFT) traded 0.7% higher premarket after the tech giant early Wednesday said it will lay off 1,850 workers (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/microsoft-to-layoff-1850-from-smartphone-business-2016-05-25) from its ailing smartphone business.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s (BABA) stock dropped 2.6% in premarket trade after the China-based ecommerce giant disclosed in a filing that it was being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alibabas-stock-slumps-after-disclosure-of-sec-probe-into-singles-day-data-consolidation-practices-2016-05-25)

Jewelry seller Tiffany & Co.(TIF) fell 3.4% premarket after its quarterly revenue and outlook disappointed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tiffanys-stock-rocked-by-sales-miss-downbeat-outlook-2016-05-25), and clothing retailer Express Inc.(EXPR) tumbled 16.7% following its quarterly report (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/express-cuts-outlook-after-revenue-flattens-2016-05-25). Tiffany was the S&P's biggest premarket loser.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 25, 2016 09:12 ET (13:12 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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