Global Stocks Strengthen as Oil Dips Below $90 a Barrel
By Joe StonorStocks rose across the globe as benchmark oil prices briefly fell below $90 for the first time since August, while Treasurys treaded water ahead of U.S. inflation data later Tuesday.U.S. stock futures were largely higher following gains overnight across Asia and a strong open in Europe. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.5%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.3%. The Nasdaq lagged, with contracts tied to the index trading flat. Premarket moves were more muted following Monday's rally, where all three major indexes rose by more than 2% for the first time since April.Asian indexes picked up momentum from the strong U.S. session, with Korea's Kospi up 4.4% while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average added 2.9%. Airlines rallied across the continent, with indexes in Hong Kong and Shanghai rising. Europe's energy-intensive industrial stocks rallied as the Stoxx 600 rose 0.7% in early trade.Sentiment was boosted by lower oil prices, with benchmark contracts extending falls after closing at around a two-month low in the last session. Brent crude for January delivery fell more than 2% to hover just above $90 a barrel after dipping below the key threshold earlier in the session, while West Texas Intermediate contracts traded around $85 a barrel.Tentative signs of diplomatic progress in the Iran conflict encouraged the fall after President Trump met with Qatar's prime minister--a key mediator--at the White House Monday. Following the meeting, the president said there is "positive momentum toward an end to this conflict" in a Truth Social post, and said further strikes against Iran "seem to be quite unlikely."Treasury yields were little moved ahead of U.S. consumer-price inflation data due later in the day. Ten-year yields edged slightly lower to hold below 4.860%, while 30-year yields were steady at around 5.250%. Two-year yields stood pat at around 4.540%. The inflation print will help shape market expectations for the Federal Reserve's December policy meeting. Markets currently price an 83.8% likelihood of a quarter-point hike, according to LSEG.The dollar slipped and gold held above $4,100 a troy ounce. Bitcoin missed out on the broader lift in sentiment, falling 0.5% to trade around $74,500.Nvidia shares showed signs of recovery after hours, rising more than 1% following heavy losses Monday as investors responded to an internal investigation into Chief Executive Jensen Huang's affair with an alleged Chinese spy.The selloff sparked by the scandal was largely limited to Nvidia. The broader artificial-intelligence trade will come into focus Tuesday when highly scrutinized cloud-computing group CoreWeave reports earnings after the closing bell.Write to Joe Stonor at [email protected]