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Brent crude roared towards $120 a barrel on supply concerns as
the United States hit Russia's oil refining sector with new
export curbs, its latest crackdown on Moscow over its invasion
of Ukraine.[GLOB/MKTS]
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday he
believed some foreign leaders were preparing for war against
Russia and that Moscow would press on with its military
operation in Ukraine until "the end".
Oilfield services firm Schlumberger rose 1.2% in premarket
trading, leading energy stocks higher. The S&P 500 energy sector
has climbed 30.7% so far this year, the highest among all the
major S&P sectors.
Citigroup upgraded U.S. equities to "overweight" as it sees
demand for rate-sensitive growth stocks due to a sharp drop in
bond yields following the Ukraine crisis.
Tesla Inc slipped 0.8%, making it the biggest decliner among the
mega-cap growth names.
Shares of big banks were mixed, with Citigroup down 0.9% after
KBW downgraded the stock to "market perform".
At 6:37 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 21 points, or 0.06%, S&P
500 e-minis were down 5 points, or 0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis
were down 33.5 points, or 0.24%.
Wall Street's main indexes rallied sharply on Wednesday after
Powell said he will back a quarter point rate increase when the
Fed meets March 15-16, assuaging some fears of an aggressive
policy tightening by the U.S. central bank.
He will testify before the Senate Banking Committee later in the
day. A host of economic data is also due, including the ISM
non-manufacturing PMI at 10:00 am ET.
American Eagle Outfitters Inc tumbled 7.2% after the apparel
chain forecast a decline in earnings for the first half of 2022
as freight expenses surge and benefits from federal stimulus
fade.
(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj
Kalluvila)
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