Dow jumps 200 points as U.S. stocks pocket third day of gains

Dow jumps 200 points as U.S. stocks pocket third day of gains

Wall Street pocketed a third straight day of gains on Tuesday with the Dow jumping triple-digits as a data-light session had investors concentrating on the surge in oil prices.

At 16:26GMT, or 12:26ET, the Dow Jones jumped 201 points, or 1.13%, while the S&P 500 rose 21 points, or 1.04%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded up 46 points, or 0.98%.

Bullish sentiment in oil continued on Tuesday despite fits and starts throughout the day.

Black gold hit an intraday low of $43.04 after Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco, suggested the firm would increase production to meet rising demand.

Recovery later ensued as supply shortages from Canada to Nigeria seemed to outweigh concerns over the global glut, as investors looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 0.5 million barrels in the week ended May 6.

U.S. crude futures gained 2.37% to $44.47 a barrel by 16:28GMT, or 12:28ET, while Brent oil traded up 3.78% to $45.28.

Meanwhile, the dollar traded flat after five consecutive days of gains.

At 16:28GMT, or 12:28ET, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, inched up 0.04% at 94.18.

Investors kept an eye on USD/JPY that broke above 109 on Tuesday as Japanese officials continued to promise intervention in currency markets if movements were “one-sided”.

On the macro front, U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose in March, indicating that the labor market continued to be robust.

Tuesday's session also saw the slight increase in March wholesale inventories that almost stagnated thanks to the largest increase in sales in almost a year.

In company news, Amazon.com  rose more than 2% after launching an online video service to compete with Alphabet Inc C  YouTube.

Allergan  traded up more than 4% after the maker of Botox said its board had authorized a $10 billion share buyback.
In big moves on earnings, SolarCity Corporation  shares sank nearly 20% as the company posted a wider-than-expected quarterly shortfall.

Clothing retailer Gap Inc  slumped more than 13% after reporting that April and first-quarter revenue fell from the prior-year periods.

Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc  sank 11% after reporting a much wider first quarter loss than expected.

On the upside, Sodastream International Ltd jumped 18% after the company managed to produce earnings-per-share more than twice the consensus estimate.

Walt Disney, Electronic Arts and Fossil Group will post numbers after Wall Street closes
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