US open: Stocks attempt rebound as oil stages turnaround
US stocks opened higher on Wednesday as oil prices staged a massive turnaround after the historic drop seen over the last two sessions.
As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.59% at 23,385.68, while the S&P 500 was 1.77% firmer at 2,785.05 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 2.11% stronger at 8,437.21.
The Dow opened 366.80 points higher on Wednesday after closing sharply lower in the previous session as the week's historic oil sell-off continued to pick up steam.
Oil volatility was still front and centre for traders on Wednesday, with plummeting prices seeing Brent crude hit its lowest intraday price since 2001. However, West Texas Intermediate surged 26.10% at the open to $14.59 per barrel, while Brent Crude was up 11.17% at $21.49 a barrel.
The spike in oil prices came shortly after Donald Trump said he had given the US Navy the green light to "shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats" if they "harass" American ships at sea.
Sentiment also got a boost after Republicans and Democrats in the Senate agreed to a $484bn coronavirus relief package for small businesses, hospitals and testing on Tuesday evening, with the deal potentially being finalised as soon as Thursday.
The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US was nearing 820,000, claiming the lives of 45,343 Americans in the process.
On the macro front, mortgage volume has seemingly settled into a new normal - with refinance demand staying high, while purchase demand slid to a five-year low.
Total mortgage application volume decreased 0.3% week-on-week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index, while refinance demand slipped 1% for the week but was a sharp 225% higher than a year earlier.
Elsewhere, the average prices of US single-family houses with mortgages increased 0.7% month-on-month in February, following an upwardly revised 0.5% advance in January
Crude oil inventories for the week ended 17 April will be published shortly.
In the corporate space, the mood was also somewhat lifted by some solid earnings by the likes of Chipotle and Snap.
White goods manufacturer Whirlpool will report earnings on Wednesday.