Oil Advances as U.S. Crude Stockpiles Seen Falling, Easing Glut

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Crude climbed as traders counted on another week of declines in U.S. crude inventories to help ease the glut that’s pushed prices below $40 a barrel.

Futures rose 2.9 percent in New York, paring Monday’s 3.4 percent slide. U.S. crude stockpiles probably fell a second week, according to a Bloomberg survey before government data Wednesday. Prices rebounded despite Saudi Arabia’s planned cuts to 2016 spending that are based on a Brent price next year of $37 a barrel, according to John Sfakianakis, a Riyadh-based economist at Ashmore Group Plc and a former government adviser.

Crude is heading for its second annual decline amid a global supply glut that may deepen as OPEC effectively abandons output limits and Iran plans to raise production once sanctions are lifted. Brent, the benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, is poised to end 2015 with the lowest annual average price in 11 years, hurting energy-exporting countries and companies.

West Texas Intermediate oil for February delivery climbed $1.06 to settle at $37.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trading volume was 58 percent below the 100-day average at 2:52 p.m.

Brent for February settlement rose $1.17, or 3.2 percent, to $37.79 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark oil closed at an 8-cent discount to WTI. Brent traded lower than WTI last week for the first time in 11 months after the U.S. decided to lift its restrictions on crude exports.

Source: Bloomberg

Gold Ends Little Changed as Stocks and Oil Surge

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Gold futures ended little changed Tuesday, kept in check by a rally in a global stocks and a strengthening dollar.

February gold ended 30 cents, or less than 0.1%, lower at $1,068 an ounce. The metal is on track for a 0.3% gain for December but remains down 9.8% since the end of 2014. Gold was marginally higher earlier in the session but succumbed to pressure from surging stocks which were underpinned by a rebound in crude-oil prices.

Advances by the greenback also helped limit the metal’s gains. A stronger buck can make dollar-denominated assets like gold more expensive to buyers using other monetary units.

Bearish sentiment has continued to dominate the view on gold since the Federal Reserve raised interest rates mid-December, making precious metals less attractive to those investors seeking yield-bearing assets.

Other metals on Comex advanced a day after slumping. March silver finished 4.4 cents, or 0.3%, higher at $13.93 an ounce. High-grade copper for March delivery rose 5.8 cents, or 2.8%, to close at $2.1365 a pound, January platinum advanced $10.40 an ounce, or 1.2%, to finish at $891.20 an ounce, and March palladium gained $4.40, or 0.8%, to settle at $556.35 an ounce.

Source: MarketWatch

Japanese Shares Rise With Topix Headed for Fourth Year of Gains

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Japanese shares rose, with the Topix index poised to end the year with its fourth straight gain, as equities tracked a rally in the U.S. and Europe.

The Topix rose 0.5 percent to 1,551.59 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo on the final trading day of the year, with all but one of the 33 industry groups advancing. The measure is heading toward a 10 percent gain for 2015, adding to a 93 percent increase over the past three years. For the quarter, the gauge is up 9.9 percent. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.4 percent to 19,065.50. The yen traded at 120.51 per dollar, slipping for a third day.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jumped 1.1 percent on Tuesday to restore its gain for the year and nearly erase a monthly decline as retailers and technology shares led a rally in light trading. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.4 percent.

Oil climbed above $37 a barrel Tuesday amid forecasts for falling U.S. stockpiles, with West Texas Intermediate crude advancing 2.9 percent while Brent traded 3.2 percent higher. WTI slid 1.7 percent to $37.24 in trading Wednesday.

Japanese shares are among the best performing major stock indexes this year in dollar terms. The measure is still 8.3 percent below its peak in August after China’s shock currency devaluation and the specter of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes sparked a global equity selloff.

Source : Bloomberg

S&P 500 Restores 2015 Gain as U.S. Stocks Gain Toward Year End

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U.S. stocks rose, restoring the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s gain for the year and nearly erasing a monthly decline as retailers and technology shares led a rally in light trading.

The S&P 500 advanced 1.1 percent to 2,078.27 at 4 p.m. in New York, rising to a three-week high.

Tuesday’s activity was a reflection of the year, with investors piling into the three top-performing S&P 500 industry groups in 2015 -- consumer discretionary, health-care and technology. Two of the year’s worst three, energy and utilities, were among the biggest laggards today.

With today’s rally, the benchmark has nearly wiped out a monthly decline after falling as much as 3.6 percent amid a series of sharp selloffs and rallies in December. If the measure closes the year higher, it will be its fourth consecutive annual gain. The index has risen as much as 3.5 percent in 2015 and dropped 9.3 percent at its low in August.

Source : Bloomberg

U.S. Stocks Rose as S&P 500 Restores 2015 Gain Near Year End

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U.S. stocks rose, restoring the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s gain for the year and paring a monthly decline as retailers and technology shares rallied in light trading.

Amazon.com Inc. paced gains among retailers for a second day, rising 2.6 percent to a record in post-holiday trading that was 38 percent below the 30-day average for this time of day. Kohl’s Corp. and Target Corp. increased more than 2.5 percent. Pep Boys added 7.8 percent after Carl Icahn raised his takeover offer for the auto-parts chain to more than $1 billion. Google parent Alphabet Inc. rose 1.8 percent to bolster gains in technology shares.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.8 percent to 2,073.64 at 12:03 p.m. in New York, after slipping 0.2 percent Monday in the lightest volume for a full session on U.S. exchanges this year. The gauge is above its average price during the past 50 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 160.90 points, or 0.9 percent, to 17,689.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1 percent.

The benchmark gauge is now up 0.7 percent for the year, having fluctuated between gains and losses throughout December on the back of the Fed’s first interest-rate increase in almost a decade. That compares with a 3.6 percent drop this year on the MSCI All Country World Index. Still, stocks are defying the historical trend of gains in the final month of the year, with the S&P 500 down 0.3 percent, trimming a drop of as much as 3.6 percent.

Source : Bloomberg