US Stock Markets Today: S&P 500 Rebounds As Oil Price Softens

The US stock market edged higher on Tuesday, following a 1% decline in the benchmark indices in the preceding session. The S&P 500 rebounded with gains of over 0.5% in the first hour of trading as oil prices sharply retracted from Monday's highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.16% or 68.4 points to open at 42,022.65, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.52%, or 94 points, to open at 18,017.92.

The S&P 500 stood at 5,719.14 at the opening bell, gaining by 23.2 points or 0.41%. In the early minutes of trading, nine of the 11 sectoral indices were trading in green, with information technology and consumer discretionary leading the surge. Energy and materials were the only two indices edging lower.

Among major companies, Nvidia, Apple, Airbnb and Netflix logged sharp gains, whereas Chevron, Intel and Qualcomm slipped in early trade.

As the US market opened, spot gold fell 0.2% to $2,636.98 an ounce. Crude oil prices, which were edging lower since earlier in the day, further slipped, with the Brent trading 3.2% lower at $78.1 per barrel.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index was little changed, but the British Pound gained 0.16% against the greenback and the Swiss Franc advanced by 0.27%.

Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, fell 0.8% to $62,533.58.

Before the US equity market opened, its Asian peers threw a mixed performance. The mainland Chinese markets gained, but the keenly watched Hang Seng index of Hong Kong shed more than 8%. Japan's Nikkei 225 also declined by 1%, but India's NSE Nifty 50 advanced by 0.88%.

The rebound in the US market comes a day after the Wall Street indices declined as Middle East tensions weighed on oil prices, and traders turned sceptical over a possible slowdown in the US Federal Reserve's rate cut plan.

With employment in the US soaring to its highest in six months, the market is now pricing an 86% chance of only a 25-basis point cut in the benchmark lending rate by 2024-end, according to the CME's FedWatch tool. There is also a 14% chance of the Fed not slashing the rates any further till the end of this year.