US stocks open higher as tech sector rebounds
US stock indices opened higher on Thursday, after the release of strong data, in addition to the tech sector rebound.
The US unemployment claims fell to 473,000 last week, beating forecasts of 487,000.
The US producer price index rose 0.6% last month, higher than forecasts of a rise by 0.3%.
Data showed yesterday that the US consumer price index rose 0.8% in April, beating forecasts of a rise by 0.2%, and the core reading for the same index (excluding energy and food prices) rose by 0.9% in April, higher than forecasts of 0.3%.
As for stocks, Dow Jones rose 1.3% or 442 points to 34,029 as of 14:19 GMT, Nasdaq rose 1.5% or 192 points to 13,223, and S&P 500 rose 0.7% or 30 points to 4,115.
Oil keeps gains after US crude inventories data
Oil prices rose on Wednesday, and shrugged off the rising US dollar, and kept gains following the release of the EIA weekly report.
The US Energy Information Administration reported today that crude inventories fell 400K barrels to 484.7 million during the past week, while analysts forecast a drop by 4.1 million barrels.
While the American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed yesterday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 2.5 million barrels during the same period.
The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.6% to 90.7 points as of 18:07 GMT, after hitting a high of 90.8 points and a low of 90.1 points.
As of 18:01 GMT, WTI crude June futures rose 1.6% to $66.3 a barrel, with a day high of $66.6 and a low of $64.9.
Brent June futures rose 1.5% to $69.6 a barrel, after hitting a day high of $69.9 and a low of $68.1.
Dollar extends gains as bond yields rise
The US dollar rallied against most major currencies on Wednesday, after the release of inflation data, which has contributed in lifting the US Treasury bond yields.
President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis James Bullard projected yesterday that the US inflation rate will rise above the Fed's target of 2% during 2022.
The US Department of the Treasury revealed today that the budget deficit reached $225.5 billion last month, to a total of $1.9 trillion during the first 7 months of the fiscal year.
Data showed that the US consumer price index rose 0.8% in April, beating forecasts of a rise by 0.2%, and the core reading for the same index (excluding energy and food prices) rose by 0.9% in April, higher than forecasts of 0.3%.
The US Treasury bond yields rose above 1.671% today, which weighs down on stocks and commodity currencies.
The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.6% to 90.7 points as of 18:56 GMT, after hitting a high of 90.8 points and a low of 90.1 points.