At 13:30 GMT, the US economy released its reading of the consumer price index for December at 0.4%, in line with forecasts, and better than the previous reading of 0.2%.

The consumer price index core reading (excluding food and fuel prices) was at 0.1%, in line with forecasts, but lower than the previous reading of 0.2%.

Oil prices continued to rise as the US market opened on Wednesday, extending gains for the second day, and jumped to 11-month high, lifted by a drop in the US crude inventories according to preliminary data by the American Petroleum Institute, and ahead of the official later today.

US crude rose 1.1% to the highest since February 2020 at $53.90 a barrel, after opening at $53.29, and hit a low of $53.23, and Brent crude rose 1.2% to the highest since February at $57.40 a barrel, after opening at $56.71, and hit a low of $56.54.

US crude gained 2.1% yesterday, and Brent crude futures rose 2%, their fifth daily gain in 6 days, thanks to US stimulus hopes.

President-elect Joe Biden pledged to launch a huge stimulus package to support the US economy that worth trillions of dollars, and hinted that more details would be revealed on Thursday.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed yesterday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell by about 5.8 million barrels during the week ending January 8, beating forecasts of a drop by 2.3 million barrels.

The total commercial inventories fell to 489.7 million barrels, the lowest level since the week ending November 13, which is considered a positive sign of the US domestic demand.

While the US Energy Information Administration's official data will be released later today, amid forecasts for inventories to fall by 3.2 million barrels.

The US production remained unchanged last week, for the third straight week, with a total of 11.0 million barrels per day.

European stocks rose on Wednesday, resuming gains after a 2-day slide, but today's gains remain slim as investors parse the recent developments regarding the coronavirus pandemic, while retail giant Carrefour shares jumped more than 13% after merger talks with the Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.1% as of 10:25 GMT, after it closed lower by 0.15% yesterday on profit taking from an 11-month high of  411.92 points.

The pan European index opened higher today, resuming gains after a 2-day slide, with most of the major European markets and sectors seeing green.

The telecom sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, rising more than 1.5%, thanks to jump by Telefónica share by more than 7% after it announced selling telecommunication towers worth $9.4 billion to American Tours Corp.

Investors are parsing the recent developments regarding the coronavirus crisis in the region, with some European governments plans to speed up their vaccination campaigns.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%, after the index closed lower by 0.1% yesterday at Wall Street, on profit-taking from its record high of 3,826.69 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.1%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.3%, the UK's FTSE 100 added 0.15%, and Germany DAX index rose 0.1%.

Gold prices fell on Wednesday, to resume losses after taking a breather yesterday in recovery attempts from a 6-week low, as the US dollar's strong performance is weighing down on gold prices. 

Gold prices fell 0.3% to $1,849.47 an ounce, after opening at $1,854.87 and hitting a low of $1,863.01.

The yellow metal gained 0.65% yesterday, and posted its first daily gain in 5 days, within its recovery attempts from the lowest since December 2 of $1,817.31.

The US dollar index rose over 0.3% against a basket of major currencies today, and hit a 3-week high of 90.73 points.

The dollar's uptrend comes as the 10-year treasury yields jumped above the 1% barrier for the first time since March, and hit a 10-month high of 1.184%.

This came after the Congress ratified Democratic candidate Joe Biden's election victory, the Democrats' control over the Senate alongside the House of Representatives, as they intend to inject massive stimulus packages to help the economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF remained unchanged yesterday, with the total at the lowest level since December 31 of 1,181.71 metric tonnes.