US Stocks Open High on Surge in Oil Prices

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Wednesday after stocks ended the previous session roughly flat.

A sharp increase by the price of crude oil may contribute to strength on Wall Street following President Donald Trump?s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

Stocks saw a negative bias throughout much of the trading session on Tuesday before ending the day roughly flat. The major averages closed near the unchanged line after recovering from the lows set in afternoon trading.

The major averages all ended the day showing moves of less than a tenth of a percent. While the S&P 500 edged down 0.71 points to 2,671.92, the Dow inched up 2.89 points to 24,360.21 and the Nasdaq crept up 1.69 points to 7,266.90.

The lackluster close by the major averages came following Trump’s announcement of his controversial but widely expected decision to withdraw from an international agreement intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump harshly criticized the nuclear agreement with Iran in remarks from the White House and signed a memorandum re-imposing sanctions on Iran.

“I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said. “We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanctions.”

“The United States no longer makes empty threats,” added Trump, who criticized the deal throughout his presidential campaign. “When I make promises, I keep them.”

The agreement negotiated under former President Barack Obama involved the U.S. and Iran as well as China, France, Russia, the U.K., Germany and the European Union.

Trading activity on the day was somewhat subdued, as a lack of major U.S. economic data kept some traders on the sidelines.

Utilities stocks turned in some of the market’s worst performances on the day, resulting in a 2.4 percent slump by the Dow Jones Utilities Average.

Considerable weakness was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent drop by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

On the other hand, energy and banking stocks saw notable strength, offsetting the weakness seen in the aforementioned sectors.