US open: Stocks rise amid upbeat earnings as oil prices rebound

US stocks rose on Thursday, as they successfully shrugged off Wednesday’s decline buoyed by upbeat earnings and a rebound in oil prices.

Just after 10:00 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.69% to 17,794.65, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.75% and 0.64% respectively.

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) decision to pull the plug on its funding for Greece’s financial sector sent shockwaves through Wall Street late on Wednesday, while energy stocks were hit by a sharp drop in the price of crude.

"The ECB’s decision wasn’t expected so the shock value sent global shares lower on Wednesday but as long as Greeks still have access to the emergency liquidity assistance programme, there should be no major cause for concern," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.

"European matters aside, US markets were actually quite strong in the face of falling oil prices in the last trading session in a sign of endurance that hasn’t been present in the past couple of months."

The US trade deficit jumped 17.1% in December, rising to a two-year high, while exports fell 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted $194.9bn and imports rose 2.2% to $241.4bn

“This jump in the deficit is nothing to be overly alarmed about since, rather than a reflection of the stronger dollar, it is mostly due to the volatility of energy imports and exports,” said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics.

“Both the price and volume of energy imports will fall sharply in January and we would expect the monthly deficit to be back below $40bn soon.”

Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the States increased 11,000 last week but remained at historically-low levels. Jobless claims totalled 278,000 in the week ended 31 January, according to the US Department of Labor, coming in below the 290,000 consensus forecast. Claims for the previous week were revised up by 2,000 to 267,000, but were still at the lowest level since April 2000.

The data comes ahead of Friday's all-important non-farm payrolls report.

In corporate news, Dunkin’ Brands Group rose slightly after reporting earnings that fell just short of estimates and announcing a $700m buyback programme.

Philip Morris and Sirius XM Holdings both edged forward in early trading after releasing their results before the opening bell.

Going the other way, Michael Kors shares slid after the luxury designer announced a weaker-than-expected outlook for the fourth quarter and financial year, while Keurig fell over 5% after reporting disappointing quarterly late on Wednesday.

Hospira surged over 36% after The Wall Street Journal reported it would buy the drugmaker for $16bn, while Twitter, LinkedIn, GoPro and Yelp will all report after the close.

The dollar lost almost 1% against the euro and almost 0.5% against the pound but registered a marginal gain against the yen, while gold futures fell 0.20% to $1,262.00.

Oil prices rebounded strongly, with Brent crude rising over 3.6% to $56.20 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose 3.4% to $50.16 a barrel.