Wall Street fell sharply on Wednesday as low oil prices weighed.
At 3:29 p.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) decreased 1.8% to 16,226.40, while the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) retreated 2.1% to 1,899.44. The Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) tumbled 2.7% to 4,559.15.
West Texas Intermediate futures settled up 0.13% at $30.48 a barrel. Brent settled at $30.31 a barrel, the first close below U.S. crude since December 30, 2015.
The U.S. dollar rose against the currencies of commodity producing countries.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell 5% to $586.74 and was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) was down 6.8% at $22.10 after the railroad company's fourth-quarter profit fell on declining freight volumes.
US OPEN
After higher futures trading, US stocks started lower on Wednesday, putting a dampener on the positive momentum, as the oil market turmoil continues to weigh on sentiment.
The benchmark Dow Jones was down 47 at 16,471, while the Nasdaq was 31 points lower at 4,654 at the time of writing.
The broader based S&P500 index was seven points lower to stand at 1,933.
Wall Street appeared to be taking a different path from European stocks, which were higher apart from the German DAX. In London, the Footsie was 26 points higher but still below 6,000.
Traders are looking at the crude price, which slipped again, after data showed US crude stocks at a level not seen for 80 years.
The EIA said US crude inventories rose by 0.2mln barrels compared to the previous week and stands now at 482.6mln barrels.
Jasper Lawler, at CMC Markets, said: “Another volatile day for oil markets meant an unsettled recovery attempt in stock markets after an improvement in Chinese exports was offset by poorly-received oil inventories data.”
Among notable risers, Supermicro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) added almost 27% to US$26.56 after it said it now expects net sales for its second quarter of fiscal 2016 in the range of $637 million to $639 million, compared to its previous guidance of $580 million to $630 million.
Shaw Communications (NYSE:SJR) surged 8.4% to US$17.81 after the Canadian media company struck a deal to sell off its broadcast subsidiary to Corus Entertainment (OTCMKTS:CJREF) for $2.65bn.
PREVIEW
US shares are set to continue the positive momentum midweek and make amends for the worst start to the year ever.
Investors globally have been put off shares due to the collapsing oil price and worries over China, but sentiment appears to be on the up.
Asian shares were mostly higher overnight although the Shanghai Composite Index did fall around 73 points to 2,949. The Nikkei 225 in Japan added, however, a whopping 497 points, or 2.89%.
The Dow Jones closed out at 16,516 a gain of 117 points, and futures are up today a further 93 points, while the S&P500 added 15 to close at 1,938. Futures are up today 12.
The tech heavy Nasdaq market finished up 47 to 4,685 and futures today are trading around 30 points up.
Oil is making up some ground, which is cheering sentiment too with spot US crude 2.73% up at US$31.27 a barrel.
In London, the FTSE100, the index of premier shares, is up 62 points at the time of writing and creeping towards 6,000, at 5,991.