US shares are poised to consolidate gains seen yesterday to go higher as an oil price rise boosts sentiment.
The black gold has rallied sharply over the last 24 hours and West Texas Intermediate, at the time of writing is up 0.65% to US$32.40 a barrel, while the European benchmark Brent is almost 4% higher at over US$34 per barrel.
It comes despite fresh data that showed US stockpiles of crude are building , feeding oversupply worries, but analysts have said the increase was smaller than expected.
The Dow and S&P500 staged a comeback late on Wednesday after a rally by oil prices, while the Nasdaq pared losses on the day after also getting briefly into the black.
The Dow Jones closed up 183 at 16,334, but futures are today up 53 points, while the S&P500 added around nine at 1,192 and futures are five ahead. The tech heavy Nasdaq futures are up around 15 points.
In London, Footsie is currently up 65 at 5,902. In Asia overnight, the Shanghai Composite rose 42 to 2,781, while the Nikkei 225 lost around 146 at 17,044.
In company news, shares in Swiss bank Credit Suisse (CS) are plunging over 11% in Switzerland after its earnings were not well received and it said it was laying off 4,000 staff.
Cruise ship operator Carnival (NYSE:CCL) is up 1.61% higher in pre-market after falling 8% earlier this week as traders looked at disappointing results of rival Royal Caribbean Cruises and fears around the Zika virus.
Mining giant Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) is up 2.47%, bouncing, after recent battering in the shares due to the general malaise in the sector.