US shares finished little changed on Thursday after oil prices reversed a minor rally.
Earlier in the day Royal Dutch Shell's (LON:RDSB) chief executive officer Ben van Beurden told reporters in a conference call that he was optimistic the oil sector would rebalance this year and said "unprecedented" volatility in oil prices didn't match up to the fundamentals of supply and demand.
Oil prices, which at one point peeped higher, ended lower. The US crude oil benchmark, the West Texas Intermediate deliverable for March, was down 1.9% at US$31.66, putting a dampener on sentiment.
The broad S&P500 index finished up 0.2% at 1,915, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1% to 4,510. The Dow outperformed the other indexes throughout the day,and closed at 16,419, up 0.5%.
Energy giant ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) saw shares slide as it said it would cut capex this year and posted a fourth-quarter loss of US$3.5bn, or US$2.78 a share largely due to a US$2.7bn in write-down of its assets, reflecting commodities price volatility.
But while the top line was dominated by the plight of oil, other sectors also felt their noses rubbed in it. The retail sector suffered a drubbing after poor trading results from luxury brand Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) and department store chain Kohl's (NYSE:KSS).
With a fairly bleak picture painted for 2016, the fallout was felt among other retail sector shares, such as Macy's Target and JC Penney all recording losses on the day.
MID-SESSION
Wall Street shares extended their late Wednesday recovery as oil prices continued to edge higher at the mid-session on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial led the gains, up 0.42% at 16,405.59, the broader S&P500 was up 0.25% at 1,917.25, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.17% to 4,511.76 albeit the gains were a modest affair less than 24 hours before the US mother-of-all data, the non-farm payrolls were due to print.
Dollar weakness for a fourth successive session, and rumours in the energy sector that oil producers may meet to discuss output cuts to stem a global supply glut, helped crude prices add to Wednesday's 8% gains.
The upside for oil prices on Thursday, however, was more modest, with the US crude oil benchmark, the West Texas Intermediate deliverable in March rising by 0.19% to US$32.34 a barrel.
OPEN
Wall Street shares got off on the front foot as had been indicated by futures trading, as the oil price rise continued to cheer.
The Dow Jones added 120 to 16,456, while the Nasdaq gained 26 at 4,529 and the S&P500 gained ten points to stand at 1,923.
West Texas Intermediate , the US benchmark crude was up over 3% at US£33.30 as US stockpile data came in less full than analysts had expected.
Ahead of non-farm payrolls on Friday, the ADP figures showed US businesses added a solid 205,000 jobs last month.
One of the notable risers was internet security software group VirnetX Holding (NYSE:VHC), which won a US$625.6mln lawsuit verdict against tech behemoth Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). It is the second time a federal jury has found Apple liable for infringing VirnetX's patented technology. Shares in the smaller firm rocketed almost 46% in New York to stand at US$6.99.