Oil Extends Gains as U.S. Rigs Idled Before Doha Freeze Talks

Oil extended gains after the biggest jump in almost two months as U.S. drillers idled more rigs ahead of talks between the world’s biggest producers about freezing output. Futures rose as much as 1.9 percent in New York after increasing 6.6 percent Friday, the most since Feb. 12. The number of active oil rigs fell for the 15th time in 16 weeks to the lowest level since 2009, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc. Venezuela said the...

Oil Rises Most in Two Months on U.S. Output Drop, Freeze Talks

Oil rose the most in two months as U.S. crude production continued to slide before talks between suppliers to discuss freezing output. Futures climbed 6.6 percent in New York. U.S. output slid for the 10th time in 11 weeks through April 1 and crude stockpiles fell, according to data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. The number of active oil rigs in the U.S. dropped to the lowest level since 2009 this week,...

Asian Stocks Decline as Japanese Shares Slump Amid Economic Data

Asian stocks fell, ahead of Chinese data on inflation and factory prices, as Japanese shares retreated amid a slump in machine orders. Energy producers climbed as U.S. oil topped $40 a barrel. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.4 percent to 125.83 as of 9:08 a.m. in Tokyo. Global stocks fell last week amid concern over the potency of central bank stimulus efforts and a selloff in Japanese equities. Focus now turns to Monday’s...

Japan Stocks Fall After Yen Strengthens, Machine Orders Decline

Japanese stocks fell, extending two weeks of losses, after the yen rallied for six days and as a report showed machine orders dropped in February for the first time in three months. The Topix index lost 0.7 percent to 1,278.84 at 9:02 a.m. in Tokyo, with all but four of its 33 industry groups retreating. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.6 percent to 15,732.32. The yen traded at 108.30 per dollar. Core machine orders slipped 9.2 percent...

Why beating lowered earnings expectations will not help stocks soar

Investors can expect corporations to beat lowered estimates by solid margins this earnings season, but it might not deliver a fillip to the overall stock market, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Consensus estimates for first-quarter earnings per share on the S&P 500 is for a 9% year-over-year decline–after a 9% downward revision–and would mark the third consecutive drop, according to FactSet. The team of...