U.S. and China reportedly moving closer to a phase-one trade deal
Stocks look set to bounce back on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that the U.S. and China are inching closer to agreeing on the amount of tariffs to be rolled back in a phase-one trade agreement.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said a trade deal with China may have to wait until after the 2020 election, denting hopes for a quick preliminary agreement.
At around 4:20 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures advanced 134.5 points, or 0.49% to 27,621.5. The S&P 500 futures climbed 14.88 points, or 0.48% to 3,105.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures 54 points, or 0.65% to 8,305.25.
Oil futures higher ahead of OPEC meeting
Crude oil futures were higher on Wednesday morning, ahead of OPEC’s meeting that kicks off Thursday in Vienna. Analysts expect OPEC and its allies to curb supplies to push up prices.
Meanwhile, data released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday showed U.S. crude inventory fell an estimated 3.72 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 29.
At 4:20 a.m. ET, Brent crude futures rose $0.85, or 1.40% to 61.67 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were at $56.78 per barrel, up 0.68, or 1.21%.
Google co-founders hand over the reins to Pichai
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced have relinquished control of the search engine’s parent company, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) to current Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
The duo founded Google in the 1990s and acted as co-CEOs of Alphabet. Despite being top executives and co-founders, Page and Brin have not had much of a public presence in recent years.
They will still remain actively involved as board members, shareholders, and co-founders. Shares of Alphabet were up less than a percent in premarket trade Wednesday.
United Airlines ordered 50 jets from Airbus to replace Boeing 757 planes
United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) has signed an order with Airbus for 50 A321XLR extra-long-range jets to replace its aging fleet of Boeing 757-200 planes starting in 2024.
Andrew Nocella, United’s Chief Commercial Officer confirmed the order on Tuesday evening. The deal is valued at $7.1 billion before customary discounts.
The news is another major blow to Boeing (NYSE: BA), which is already struggling to return the grounded 737 Max planes to service.
Boeing has yet to decide whether to build its proposed midsize aircraft, known as the NMA, as it works to get the 737 Max back in the air.
