Oil prices rebound
Oil prices jumped on Thursday morning following reports that two tankers have been attacked in the Gulf of Oman, near the Iranian coastline.
Multiple shipping agents say oil tankers Kokuka Courageous and Front Altair sustained serious fire damage during the attacks, but all crew members were evacuated. The attacks come a few weeks after four oil tankers off the UAE were attacked in the Gulf of Oman.
Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, jumped 2.4% to trade at $61.37 per barrel as of 4:30 a.m. ET. U.S. crude futures rose 2.3% to $52.25 per barrel and have climbed higher since, as traders celebrated fresh supply disruption risks likely to emanate from the attacks.
Wall Street set to open in green territory
U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday morning, despite the tanker incident in the Gulf of Oman. As of 5:38 a.m. ET, futures on the blue-chip Dow were seen rising 77 points, or 0.3%.
Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were up 35 points, or 0.5%, while those on the broader S&P 500 gained 9 points, or 0.3%. The gains pointed to a positive session on Wall Street.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump declined to set a deadline for hiking tariffs on Chinese imports if Washington and Beijing fail to come to an agreement on their trade war. The president described U.S.-China relations as good but “testy” and doing little to ease global trade tensions.
Alibaba files confidentially for Hong Kong listing
Bloomberg is reporting that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) has filed confidentially for a Hong Kong listing.
The e-commerce giant could raise up to $20 billion as early as the third quarter of 2019, Bloomberg said, citing a person with familiar with the matter.
Alibaba has chosen Credit Suisse Group AG and China International Capital Corp. and as lead banks for the offering, according to the report.
Target launches same-day delivery
Target Corp (NYSE: TGT) will offer same-day delivery option to shoppers in 47 states across the United States. Customers will have the option to buy 65,000 different items on its website, Target.com, and have the items delivered same day by paying a flat fee of $9.99 per order.
The retailer is leveraging the personal shopping and delivery platform called Shipt, which it acquired for $550 million two years ago. Target shares were little changed in pre-market trading on Thursday.
PHOTO: /ASSOCIATED PRESS
