Investing.com – U.S. stocks traded near levels not seen since January as oil pushed upward and the global markets continued to digest the quantitative easing measures implemented on Thursday by the European Central Bank (ECB).
At 17:25GMT or 12:25ET, the Dow 30 gained 212 points or 1.25%, while the S&P 500 traded up 27 points or 1.37% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite rose 65 points or 1.39%.
Oil prices pushed upwards after the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggested on Friday that oil prices might have bottomed out due to production declines in the U.S. and other non-OPEC countries while Iran’s supply increase has not been overdone.
Investors now turn their attention to the weekly rig count from Baker Hughes, to be released later in the session, for further indications of the supply outlook on U.S. domestic energy markets. U.S. oil rigs fell by eight to 392 for the week ending on Feb. 26, moving lower for the 11th consecutive week. With the declines, the rig count fell to its lowest level since Dec. 4, 2009 and one away from an all-time record low.
Black gold did pull back from intraday highs, but remained trading in the black. U.S. crude futures gained 1.06% to $38.24 by 15:59 GMT or 10:59AM ET, while Brent oil traded up 0.35% to $40.19.
The dollar initially moved higher against the other major currencies in early trade on Friday, as it recovered from losses posted after comments by ECB chief Mario Draghi in the press conference after announcing unprecedented monetary policy measures.
Markets focused on the ECB president’s remark Thursday that he didn’t anticipate the need for further interest rate cuts and looked past his emphasis on the fact that economic fundamentals could change.
“However to give that comment some perspective: When does a central banker ever say ‘we’re not sure if this will work so we may have to do more further down the road’? So that specific reaction was a little surprising,” Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) head of global credit strategy Jim Reid wrote in a note on the market’s reaction.
However, at 16:07GMT or 11:07AM ET, the dollar pulled back from intraday highs and showed weakness against the pound. The U.S. Dollar Index, that gauges the greenback’s value against a basket of six other currencies, was in fact in the red and slipped 0.09% to 96.10. EUR/USD still fell 0.17% to 1.1159 and USD/JPY rose 0.33% to 113.56, but GBP/USD traded up 0.77% at 1.4390.
In a light calendar day stateside, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that import prices fell for an eighth straight month in February although the year-on-year drop of 6.1% was the smallest since December 2014.
The same report also showed a 0.4% decline in export prices.
In light company news flow, Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) rose 1.7% after announcing an agreement with activist investors to appoint three new directors.
On the downside, Williams-Sonoma Inc (NYSE:WSM) lost 1.6% after Bank of America-Merrill Lynch cut its recommendation to underperform from neutral.