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Investing.com - Wall Street was higher Friday as investors were cautiously optimistic after U.S. President Donald Trump toned down his stance against Chinese tech giant Huawei.

The S&P 500 rose 14 points, or 0.5%, by 9:48 AM ET (13:48 GMT), while the Dow gained 149 points, or 0.6%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was up 56 points, or 0.7%.

Trump told reporters that if a trade deal was made with China, Huawei - which he still referred to as "very dangerous" - could be included in some form. The news eased fears among investors of a tech cold war between Washington and Beijing.

Trump will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting next month in Japan.

"We've had a turbulent week. Investors are stepping back at these levels, assessing opportunities entering the long weekend," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 1.3% after Piper Jaffray said the e-commerce giant could be worth $3,000 a share in two years, while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) gained 1.4% and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) inched up 0.3%.

Total System Services (NYSE:TSS) surged 11.4% after reports that it is in merger talks with Global Payments (NYSE:GPN).

Elsewhere, Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) fell 17% after its comparable sales failed to grow as much as analysts expected in the first quarter.

In commodities, gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,280.80 a troy ounce, while crude oil jumped 0.8% to $58.41. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.1% to 97.620.

-- Reuters contributed to this report.

Investing.com - Stocks in focus in premarket trading on Friday:

• Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) stock slumped 8.7% by 8:15 AM ET (12:15 GMT) after comparable sales failed to grow as much as analysts expected in the first quarter.

• Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock was up 0.7% after analyst firm Piper Jaffray said the e-commerce giant could be worth $3,000 a share in two years due to strong growth in cloud services and advertising.

• Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) stock rose 0.4% after the social media giant said it removed 3.4 billion fake accounts in the last six months before they were able to become active users. The company estimates that 5% of its 2.4 billion monthly active users are fake accounts, up from an estimated 3% to 4% in the previous six-month report.

• Total System Services (NYSE:TSS) stock gained 6.4% after Bloomberg reported that the company is in merger talks with Global Payments (NYSE:GPN).

• Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK) stock dipped 1.3% despite the software services company beating first-quarter estimates. The company is still operating at a loss.

• Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock was up 1% on a Reuters report saying the Federal Aviation Administration expects the airplane maker's grounded 737 Max jet to be approved for service as soon as late June.

• Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) stock fell 0.8% after it was downgraded to “equal-weight” from “overweight” at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) after a long bull run, due to a likely slowdown in growth and stagnation in margins

Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump toned down his attacks on Huawei.

Trump told reporters that if a trade deal was made with China, Huawei - which he still referred to as "very dangerous" - could be included in some form. The news eased fears among investors of a tech cold war between Washington and Beijing.

Dow futures rose 165 points or 0.7% by 6:52 AM ET (10:52 GMT), while tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained 42 points or 0.6% and S&P 500 futures was up 18 points or 0.6%.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rose 0.8% after it said it removed 3.4 billion fake accounts, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 3.2% and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) inched up 0.1%, after losing 16% so far this week.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 0.9% as it tried to lure Prime members to its one-day shipping service with warehouse reductions of up to 75%.

Elsewhere, Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK). fell 7.9%, while Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) fell as much as 10% after missing on first-quarter earnings, while software services company Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK) fell 2.2% even after it posted better-than-expected results.

The economic calendar is sparse, with durable goods orders out at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).

In commodities, crude oil bounced 1.1% to $58.57 a barrel after losing 6% on Thursday, while gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,280.85 a troy ounce. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.1% to 97.650.

Investing.com -- These are the top 5 things you need to know in financial markets on Friday, May 24.

1. Trade war becomes currency war

The U.S. issued a veiled warning to China not to devalue its currency as a way of offsetting the damage to its exporters from U.S. tariffs.

The Commerce Department published late Thursday a notice of “proposed rule-making” that would let the administration punish countries that “act to undervalue their currency relative to the dollar, resulting in a subsidy to their exports.”

The CNY/USD has stabilized in the last couple of sessions after sliding to a succession of new lows for 2019 as the trade war has ramped up. It closed at 6.9009 to the dollar on Thursday in mainland trading, while the offshore yuan traded at 6.9184.

2. Markets price in Fed rate cut

All benchmark Treasury bonds out to 10 years in maturity are now trading below the Fed Funds target rate of 2.25%-2.50%. The is yielding 2.33%, having dipped below 2.3% for the first time since October 2017 on Thursday.

By contrast, the three-month T-bill, which is closely tied to the Fed’s official interest rates, is at 2.38%

3. Wall Street Set to Rebound at Open

Stocks are set to rebound from Thursday’s losses at the opening Friday, after President Donald Trump dialled back his rhetoric against Huawei somewhat.

At 5:45 AM ET, the S&P 500 futures contract was up 15 points, the Dow futures contract was up 133 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 contract was up 38 points. For all three, that’s a gain of 0.5%, which is a little less than half of what they lost in Thursday’s rout.

Both the International Monetary Fund and the New York Federal Reserve warned Thursday that the spiralling trade war represented a threat to growth and living standards, with the Fed survey indicating that the latest round of tariff hikes would leave the average household $831 a year worse off.

4. Oil's dead-cat bounce

Crude oil prices have also stabilized after their worst day of the year to date.

U.S. crude futures were up 1.2% at $58.69 a barrel, while the international Brent blend was up by the same amount at $68.56.

That’s only a modest recovery from a 6% decline yesterday, which drove prices to their lowest level since mid-March.

The sell-off comes only weeks before OPEC, Russia and others are scheduled to take a decision on whether or not to extend the current agreement on output restraint when its expires at the end of June.

5. May makes way; harder Brexit now likely

British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed she will stand down on June 7 after three years of trying and failing to deliver Brexit.

The British pound rose over half a cent on the news, but is still below $1.2700, capped by the awareness that the next Conservative Party leader is likely to be from the more aggressive Brexiteer wing of the party. The pound has generally weakened whenever the likelihood of a ‘hard Brexit’ has risen.

Investing.com -- The U.S. dollar was trading broadly lower early Friday in Europe, amid rising expectations that the Federal Reserve will have to cut interest rates to support the U.S. economy to offset the damage from a widening trade war with China.

U.S. manufacturing activity slowed to its weakest in five years in May while new home sales fell 6.9% in April, an ominously weak start the spring selling season. The data came on the back of similarly weak business surveys in Japan and Europe, and a warning from the International Monetary Fund about the dangers of the escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

"Markets are pricing in a rate cut as damage from the trade tension is thought to be larger than imagined, though the Fed hasn\'t talked about it at all," said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities, told Reuters.

The yuan was stable overnight, soothing fears – for now - that China will allow it to fall in order to absorb some of the shock to its economy from higher and broader U.S. import tariffs.

The tone was marginally improved by comments from President Trump on telecoms giant Huawei, saying that it was “possible that Huawei could be included as part of a trade deal,” despite its being “very dangerous, from a security standpoint.”

At 03:00 AM ET (0700 GMT), the euro and British pound were both rebounding against the dollar, leaving the single currency on course to end the week with a gain of nearly 0.5% against it. Sterling, however, is still set for a weekly loss, owing to rise in political volatility in the U.K.

Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to announce a date for her resignation later Friday after a meeting with her party’s lawmakers. The indications are that she will remain in office long enough to receive President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to visit the U.K. between June 3-5.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was 97.627, having traded above 98 for most of Thursday.

Investing.com - Gold prices slipped on Friday in Asia as traders awaited more trade news.

Gold futures for June delivery, traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, were down 0.2% at $1,283.25 per ounce by 1:20 AM ET (05:20 GMT).

While an intensifying trade dispute between the U.S. and China have sent most risk assets down this month, the safe-haven gold has not been able to benefit as much as traders hoped as markets have seemingly preferred the U.S. dollar amid the trade war. Gold is now down nearly 5% since touching a 10-month peak in February at $1,346.73.

The U.S. dollar index, which usually moves in directions opposite to gold, was near a one-month high on Thursday but retreated as weak domestic data increased expectations for an interest-rate cut this year.

Sales of new U.S. homes fell from near an 11.5 year high in April as prices rebounded and manufacturing activity hit its lowest level in almost a decade in May, data showed.

Gold prices recorded the largest percentage gain in a week on Thursday, but analysts said it might have trouble hitting the psychologically important $1,300 level.

"Gold has found a very good support around $1,270. There was some short covering after the (weak U.S.) data that pushed prices up. However, the upside could be limited as $1,290 is acting as a strong resistance," said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals, in a Reuters report.

Investing.com - Asian stocks were mixed in morning trade on Friday and are set for a third week of losses as traders digest the latest headlines on the Sino-U.S. trade war.

China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 0.2% by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT), while the Shenzhen Component slipped 0.4%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.2%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.7%. Core consumer prices, an inflation gauge closely watched, rose 0.9% in April from a year earlier, in line with expectations and accelerating slightly from March’s 0.8% gain, government data showed on Friday.

South Korea’s KOSPI declined by 0.9%. Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.7%.

The Sino-U.S. trade war remained in the headlines as U.S. President Donald Trump said Chinese telecom giant Huawei could be part of a trade pact with the country.

“It’s possible that Huawei even would be included in some kind of a trade deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House, without providing details. “Huawei is something that’s very dangerous. You look at what they’ve done from a security standpoint, from a military standpoint, it’s very dangerous.”

Huawei was put on a U.S. blacklist earlier this month. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the U.S. had held off the ban but decided to take action after the negotiations with China hit an impasse.

Meanwhile, Chinese officials blamed the U.S. for wrecking trade talks and that they must alter their “wrong practices” before negotiations could resume.

No further trade talks are scheduled at this point, but Trump has said he will meet his Chinese part Xi Jinping at next month’s G-20 summit in Japan.

Investing.com - Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) reported first quarter earnings that matched analysts' expectations on Thursday and revenue that fell short of forecasts.

The firm reported earnings per share of $0.45 on revenue of $735.5M. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $0.45 on revenue of $740.52M. That compared to EPS of $0.06 on revenue of $559.9M in the same period a year earlier. The company had reported EPS of $0.46 on revenue of $737.3M (NYSE:MMM) in the previous quarter.

Autodesk follows other major Technology sector earnings this month

On May 8, EchoStar reported first quarter EPS of $0.08 on revenue of $531.08M, compared to forecasts of EPS of $0.1 on revenue of $528.1M.

Microsoft earnings beat analysts' expectations on April 24, with third quarter EPS of $1.14 on revenue of $30.57B. Investing.com analysts expected EPS of $1 on revenue of $29.88B

Stay up-to-date on all of the upcoming earnings reports by visiting Investing.com's earnings calendar

Investing.com - Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) reported first quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations on Thursday and revenue that was inline with forecasts.

The firm reported earnings per share of $1.13 on revenue of $3.79B. Analysts polled by Investing.com expected EPS of $1.12 on revenue of $3.79B. That compared to EPS of $1.11 on revenue of $3.59B in the same period a year earlier. The company had reported EPS of $1.2 on revenue of $4.11B in the previous quarter.

Ross Stores shares lost 3.29% to trade at $91.40 in after-hours trade following the report.

Ross Stores follows other major Services sector earnings this month

On April 25, Amazon.com reported first quarter EPS of $7.09 on revenue of $59.7B, compared to forecasts of EPS of $4.7 on revenue of $59.7B.

Alibaba ADR earnings beat analysts' expectations on May 15, with fourth quarter EPS of $8.57 on revenue of $93.5B. Investing.com analysts expected EPS of $6.56 on revenue of $91.54B

Stay up-to-date on all of the upcoming earnings reports by visiting Investing.com's earnings calendar

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil&Gas, Basic Materials and Technology sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.11%, while the S&P 500 index declined 1.19%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 1.58%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which rose 1.64% or 3.09 points to trade at 192.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 1.20% or 0.53 points to end at 44.53 and Johnson&Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 0.74% or 1.03 points to 139.79 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), which fell 3.66% or 4.96 points to trade at 130.45 at the close. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 2.99% or 1.50 points to end at 48.71 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was down 2.90% or 3.96 points to 132.39.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which rose 12.84% to 24.26, Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) which was up 3.24% to settle at 91.64 and Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) which gained 2.37% to close at 79.40.

The worst performers were NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP) which was down 8.11% to 61.66 in late trade, Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) which lost 7.93% to settle at 59.01 and Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) which was down 7.30% to 27.17 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Urban Tea Inc (NASDAQ:MYT) which rose 30.77% to 2.3800, Trans World Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:TWMC) which was up 21.36% to settle at 0.401 and ContraVir Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CTRV) which gained 16.96% to close at 0.1310.

The worst performers were Obalon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OBLN) which was down 47.69% to 0.68 in late trade, Organovo Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ONVO) which lost 39.46% to settle at 0.545 and Proteon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PRTO) which was down 33.27% to 0.42 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2321 to 659 and 94 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2117 fell and 539 advanced, while 94 ended unchanged.

Shares in Organovo Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ONVO) fell to all time lows; falling 39.46% or 0.355 to 0.545.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 14.71% to 16.92.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.69% or 8.75 to $1282.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 5.29% or 3.25 to hit $58.17 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $67.94 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.05% to 1.1185, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 109.59.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.15% at 97.730.

Investing.com - Mastercard (NYSE:MA) fell by 3.01% to trade at $249.16 by 15:43 (19:43 GMT) on Thursday on the NYSE exchange.

The volume of Mastercard shares traded since the start of the session was 3.49M. Mastercard has traded in a range of $249.17 to $255.70 on the day.

The stock has traded at $258.8200 at its highest and $244.2100 at its lowest during the past seven days.

Investing.com - Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) rose by 3.01% to trade at $91.42 by 15:11 (19:11 GMT) on Thursday on the NYSE exchange.

The volume of Medtronic shares traded since the start of the session was 9.35M. Medtronic has traded in a range of $90.12 to $91.47 on the day.

The stock has traded at $91.4600 at its highest and $86.7600 at its lowest during the past seven days.

By Barani Krishnan

Investing.com - Oil prices plunged nearly 6% Thursday in this year's worst drop and the worst fall since the start of OPEC production cuts in December. The escalating U.S.-China trade war and huge crude pileups from weak refiner demand combined to roil the market.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the benchmark for U.S. crude, fell below key $60 per barrel support, settling down $3.51 , or 5.7%, at $57.91 per barrel.

London Brent futures, the global benchmark for oil, lost its $70-per-barrel perch, falling $3.54, or 5%, to $67.45 by 2:48 PM ET (18:48 GMT).

"Ugly macro, ugly price action," said Scott Shelton, energy futures broker at ICAP (LON:NXGN) in Durham, N.C.

"Market is bidless as WTI is through the 200-day moving average, and Brent is through the 50-Day," Shelton said.

Wall Street's three key stock indexes fell by more than 1% each as investors fled from risk on fears that the trade war will have profound and long-term consequences for growth.

Oil markets have been teetering since the start of the week after U.S. President Donald Trump moved to block popular Chinese cellphone maker and technology giant Huawei from the U.S. market as an extension of the tariffs he had been piling on China.

The selloff accelerated on Wednesday after data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed a surprise crude oil build of about 5 million barrels, on the average, for a second running week. The inventory spike came on the back of muted U.S. refinery runs, despite Monday's Memorial Day holiday, which marks the unofficial start to peak summer driving activity in the U.S., being just days away.

As the one community that could typically be counted on to deliver the demand and strong prices typical for oil in the run-up to summer, American refineries have been uncharacteristically weak in their support of crude prices this year. Doing longer-than-expected plant maintenance and processing less crude than anticipated week after week, refinery owners have become a new source of frustration to oil bulls already reeling from stubbornly highly U.S. crude production.

Aside from the surge in crude inventories, the EIA said total motor gasoline stockpiles also increased by 3.7 million barrels during the week ended May 17, against forecasts for a drop of nearly 816,000.

Distillate fuel inventories rose by 800,000 barrels last week versus expectations for a drop of 48,000 barrels.

Analysts said the main reason for this year's weak U.S. refinery runs was the softer crack, or profit margins, for gasoline and other fuels this year compared to a year ago. As of Wednesday, the gasoline crack stood at around $21 per barrel versus around $28 seen just before summer 2018.
If the pace of refining in the U.S. wasn't bad enough, Asia’s oil refiners were also considering reducing output after margins slumped to their lowest level of the season since 2003, Reuters reported.

Despite Thursday's bloodbath in oil, crude prices are still up substantially for the year, with WTI still showing a year-to-date gain of 27%. Brent is up 25% for the year.

Investing.com - Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) fell by 3.05% to trade at $27.62 by 14:12 (18:12 GMT) on Thursday on the NYSE exchange.

The volume of Bank of America shares traded since the start of the session was 33.18M. Bank of America has traded in a range of $27.62 to $28.20 on the day.

The stock has traded at $28.8300 at its highest and $27.6200 at its lowest during the past seven days.

Investing.com - United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) fell by 4.02% to trade at $130.00 by 13:55 (17:55 GMT) on Thursday on the NYSE exchange.

The volume of United Technologies shares traded since the start of the session was 3.58M. United Technologies has traded in a range of $129.79 to $133.82 on the day.

The stock has traded at $136.2900 at its highest and $129.9300 at its lowest during the past seven days.

Investing.com – Germany stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Basic Resources, Technology and Industrials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Frankfurt, the DAX lost 1.78%, while the MDAX index declined 1.81%, and the TecDAX index fell 2.46%.

The best performers of the session on the DAX were Vonovia SE (DE:VNAn), which rose 0.91% or 0.43 points to trade at 47.59 at the close. Meanwhile, Beiersdorf AG O.N. (DE:BEIG) added 0.84% or 0.850 points to end at 102.050 and Deutsche Telekom AG Na (DE:DTEGn) was down 0.29% or 0.044 points to 15.046 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Daimler AG NA O.N. (DE:DAIGn), which fell 6.75% or 3.430 points to trade at 47.400 at the close. Covestro AG (DE:1COV) declined 5.13% or 2.220 points to end at 41.080 and Thyssenkrupp AG O.N. (DE:TKAG) was down 4.80% or 0.615 points to 12.185.

The top performers on the MDAX were CTS Eventim AG (DE:EVDG) which rose 1.24% to 45.560, Deutsche Wohnen AG (DE:DWNG) which was up 0.40% to settle at 42.760 and Tag Immobilien AG (DE:TEGG) which gained 0.10% to close at 20.740.

The worst performers were Aareal Bank AG (DE:ARLG) which was down 9.14% to 26.440 in late trade, Uniper SE (DE:UN01) which lost 6.23% to settle at 24.700 and Kion Group AG (DE:KGX) which was down 5.03% to 52.08 at the close.

The top performers on the TecDAX were SMA Solar Technology AG (DE:S92G) which rose 0.42% to 19.050, Deutsche Telekom AG Na (DE:DTEGn) which was down 0.29% to settle at 15.046 and Qiagen NV (DE:QIA) which lost 0.29% to close at 34.540.

The worst performers were RIB Software AG Na (DE:RIB) which was down 5.36% to 15.540 in late trade, Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology O.N. (DE:PV) which lost 4.89% to settle at 132.30 and S&T AG (DE:SANT1) which was down 4.88% to 19.67 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by 566 to 136 and 71 ended unchanged.

Shares in Covestro AG (DE:1COV) fell to 52-week lows; down 5.13% or 2.220 to 41.080.

The DAX volatility index, which measures the implied volatility of DAX options, was up 13.78% to 18.16.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.95% or 12.05 to $1286.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 6.51% or 4.00 to hit $57.42 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 5.51% or 3.91 to trade at $67.08 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.29% to 1.1184, while EUR/GBP rose 0.20% to 0.8824.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 97.672.

Investing.com - Chevron (NYSE:CVX) fell by 3.07% to trade at $116.88 by 13:13 (17:13 GMT) on Thursday on the NYSE exchange.

The volume of Chevron shares traded since the start of the session was 5.78M. Chevron has traded in a range of $116.86 to $118.81 on the day.

The stock has traded at $122.4900 at its highest and $116.8300 at its lowest during the past seven days.

Investing.com – Norway stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Energy, Auto&components and Diversified Financials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Oslo, the Oslo OBX fell 2.29%.

The best performers of the session on the Oslo OBX were BW Offshore Ltd (OL:BWO), which rose 9.26% or 4.850 points to trade at 57.250 at the close. Meanwhile, SalMar ASA (OL:SALM) added 5.79% or 22.40 points to end at 409.10 and Leroy Seafood Group ASA (OL:LSG) was up 2.82% or 1.70 points to 62.02 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Petroleum Geo - Services ASA (OL:PGS), which fell 8.40% or 1.46 points to trade at 15.92 at the close. Aker BP ASA (OL:AKERBP) declined 7.36% or 20.00 points to end at 251.60 and DNO International ASA (OL:DNO) was down 6.78% or 1.16 points to 15.88.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Oslo Stock Exchange by 167 to 55 and 16 ended unchanged.

Crude oil for July delivery was down 5.93% or 3.64 to $57.78 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July fell 5.23% or 3.71 to hit $67.28 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.89% or 11.35 to trade at $1285.55 a troy ounce.

EUR/NOK was up 0.19% to 9.7838, while USD/NOK fell 0.09% to 8.7488.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 97.700.

Investing.com – Russia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Mining, Power and Oil&Gas sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Moscow, the MOEX Russia declined 0.76%.

The best performers of the session on the MOEX Russia were VTB (MCX:VTBR), which rose 10.13% or 0.0036 points to trade at 0.0387 at the close. Meanwhile, AFK Sistema (MCX:AFKS) added 2.32% or 0.208 points to end at 9.170 and Rosseti ao (MCX:RSTI) was up 2.12% or 0.0259 points to 1.2497 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were SG mechel (MCX:MTLR), which fell 4.25% or 2.83 points to trade at 63.70 at the close. Safmar Finansovye Investitsii PAO (MCX:SFIN) declined 4.21% or 21.8 points to end at 496.2 and X5 Retail Group NV (MCX:FIVEDR) was down 3.93% or 76.0 points to 1857.5.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Moscow Stock Exchange by 143 to 87 and 13 ended unchanged.

Shares in SG mechel (MCX:MTLR) fell to 52-week lows; down 4.25% or 2.83 to 63.70.

The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MOEX Russia options, was up 2.34% to 22.320.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.88% or 11.25 to $1285.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 6.01% or 3.69 to hit $57.73 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 5.27% or 3.74 to trade at $67.25 a barrel.

USD/RUB was up 0.63% to 64.7962, while EUR/RUB rose 0.87% to 72.4460.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 97.703.

Investing.com - Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) fell by 3.07% to trade at $73.24 by 12:56 (16:56 GMT) on Thursday on the NYSE exchange.

The volume of Exxon Mobil shares traded since the start of the session was 5.84M. Exxon Mobil has traded in a range of $73.22 to $74.80 on the day.

The stock has traded at $76.9500 at its highest and $73.2300 at its lowest during the past seven days.

Investing.com - IBM (NYSE:IBM) fell by 4.01% to trade at $130.88 by 12:51 (16:51 GMT) on Thursday on the NYSE exchange.

The volume of IBM shares traded since the start of the session was 2.31M. IBM has traded in a range of $130.85 to $135.00 on the day.

The stock has traded at $137.0600 at its highest and $130.8400 at its lowest during the past seven days.

Investing.com – Denmark stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil&Gas, Software&Computer Services and Technology sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Copenhagen, the OMX Copenhagen 20 fell 0.59%.

The best performers of the session on the OMX Copenhagen 20 were Novo Nordisk A/S Class B (CSE:NOVOb), which rose 1.08% or 3.5 points to trade at 323.9 at the close. Meanwhile, Oersted A/S (CSE:ORSTED) added 0.30% or 1.60 points to end at 537.60 and Tryg A/S (CSE:TRYG) was up 0.10% or 0.2 points to 208.8 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Ambu A/S (CSE:AMBUb), which fell 4.75% or 5.8 points to trade at 115.4 at the close. AP Moeller - Maersk A/S B (CSE:MAERSKb) declined 4.42% or 342 points to end at 7390 and Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CSE:VWS) was down 3.58% or 20.4 points to 549.0.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange by 83 to 39 and 21 ended unchanged.

Shares in Oersted A/S (CSE:ORSTED) rose to all time highs; gaining 0.30% or 1.60 to 537.60.

Crude oil for July delivery was down 5.39% or 3.31 to $58.11 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in July fell 4.89% or 3.47 to hit $67.52 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 0.86% or 10.95 to trade at $1285.15 a troy ounce.

USD/DKK was down 0.20% to 6.6823, while EUR/DKK rose 0.01% to 7.4685.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 97.743.

Investing.com - Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell by 3.04% to trade at $348.84 by 12:26 (16:26 GMT) on Thursday on the NASDAQ exchange.

The volume of Netflix shares traded since the start of the session was 2.72M. Netflix has traded in a range of $348.70 to $357.42 on the day.

The stock has traded at $366.2700 at its highest and $341.3900 at its lowest during the past seven days.

Investing.com - Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) fell by 3.10% to trade at $273.08 by 12:18 (16:18 GMT) on Thursday on the NASDAQ exchange.

The volume of Adobe shares traded since the start of the session was 1.10M. Adobe has traded in a range of $273.04 to $278.43 on the day.

The stock has traded at $285.8700 at its highest and $269.5000 at its lowest during the past seven days.

Investing.com – Turkey stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Transport, Wholesale&Retail Trade and Services sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Istanbul, the BIST 100 rose 1.10%.

The best performers of the session on the BIST 100 were Vestel Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret AS (IS:VESTL), which rose 6.44% or 0.570 points to trade at 9.420 at the close. Meanwhile, Sok Marketler (IS:SOKM) added 6.43% or 0.48 points to end at 7.95 and Turkish Airlines (IS:THYAO) was up 4.80% or 0.540 points to 11.800 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Ipek Dogal Enerji Kaynaklari Arastirma ve Uretim AS (IS:IPEKE), which fell 5.56% or 0.270 points to trade at 4.590 at the close. Flap Kongre Toplanti Hizmetleri Otomotiv ve Turizm AS (IS:FLAP) declined 5.17% or 0.150 points to end at 2.750 and Hurriyet Gazetecilik ve Matbaacilik AS (IS:HURGZ) was down 4.55% or 0.030 points to 0.630.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Istanbul Stock Exchange by 187 to 164 and 55 ended unchanged.

Shares in Hurriyet Gazetecilik ve Matbaacilik AS (IS:HURGZ) fell to 52-week lows; falling 4.55% or 0.030 to 0.630.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.91% or 11.55 to $1285.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 5.26% or 3.23 to hit $58.19 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 4.83% or 3.43 to trade at $67.56 a barrel.

USD/TRY was up 0.17% to 6.1013, while EUR/TRY rose 0.35% to 6.8166.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 97.773.

By Barani Krishnan

Investing.com - Oil prices plunged 5% Thursday in this year's worst drop and the worst fall since the start of OPEC production cuts in December. The escalating U.S.-China trade war and huge crude pileups from weak refiner demand combined to roil the market.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the benchmark for U.S. crude, fell below key $60 per barrel support, trading down $3.14 , or 5.1%, at $58.28 per barrel by 11:15 AM ET (15:15 GMT).

London Brent futures, the global benchmark for oil, lost its $70-per-barrel perch, falling $3.13, or 4.4%, to $67.86

"Ugly macro, ugly price action," said Scott Shelton, energy futures broker at ICAP (LON:NXGN) in Durham, N.C.

"Market is bidless as WTI is through the 200-day moving average, and Brent is through the 50-Day and approaching the 200-day moving average," Shelton said.

Wall Street's three key stock indexes fell by more than 1% each as investors fled from risk on fears that the trade war will have profound and long-term consequences for growth.

Oil markets have been teetering since the start of the week after U.S. President Donald Trump moved to block popular Chinese cellphone maker and technology giant Huawei from the U.S. market as an extension of the tariffs he had been piling on China.

The selloff accelerated on Wednesday after data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed a surprise crude oil build of about 5 million barrels, on the average, for a second running week. The inventory spike came on the back of muted U.S. refinery runs, despite Monday's Memorial Day holiday, which marks the unofficial start to peak summer driving activity in the U.S., being just days away.

As the one community that could typically be counted on to deliver the demand and strong prices typical for oil in the run-up to summer, American refineries have been uncharacteristically weak in their support of crude prices this year. Doing longer-than-expected plant maintenance and processing less crude than anticipated week after week, refinery owners have become a new source of frustration to oil bulls already reeling from stubbornly highly U.S. crude production.

Aside from the surge in crude inventories, the EIA said total motor gasoline stockpiles also increased by 3.7 million barrels during the week ended May 17, against forecasts for a drop of nearly 816,000.

Distillate fuel inventories rose by 800,000 barrels last week versus expectations for a drop of 48,000 barrels.

Analysts said the main reason for this year's weak U.S. refinery runs was the softer crack, or profit margins, for gasoline and other fuels this year compared to a year ago. As of Wednesday, the gasoline crack stood at around $21 per barrel versus around $28 seen just before summer 2018.

If the pace of refining in the U.S. wasn't bad enough, Asia’s oil refiners were also considering reducing output after margins slumped to their lowest level of the season since 2003, Reuters reported.

Despite Thursday's bloodbath in oil, crude prices are still up substantially for the year, with WTI still showing a year-to-date gain of 28%. Brent is up 26% for the year.

Investing.com - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose in midday trading Thursday after a leaked email from CEO Elon Musk showed the electric car company is on pace to top its record of deliveries in the second quarter.

Musk’s email, which Reuters reported was authentic, said the company, on average, produced 900 Model 3 cars per day this week, bringing it close to its target of 7,000 a week.

The email also stated that the company has 50,000 net new orders for this quarter as of Tuesday.

The news helped shares of Tesla rise from six-consecutive sessions in the red, as investors worry over the company’s financials and ability to keep up with demand.

Tesla rose 1.7% in midday trade, but was still near a two-and-a-half year low.

Investing.com – Wall Street slumped on Thursday as fears that the U.S.-China trade war will have profound and long-term consequences for growth spooked investors.

The S&P 500 fell 35 points or 1.2% by 9:44 AM ET (13:44 GMT), while the Dow lost 346 points or 1.3% and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was down 114 points or 1.5%. The Nasdaq has under-performed all week on fears that the tech sector will be hurt more than most as the U.S. tries to stop China attaining world leadership in technologies such as 5G.

China told Washington overnight to correct its "wrong actions" in order for trade talks to continue. The comments were in response to the U.S. blacklisting Chinese tech giant Huawei last week, a development that has led companies to drop its smartphones from their 5G offerings. That's on top of various governments signalling it will restrict Huawei's involvement in the rollout of 5G spectrum networks. The White House is looking at the possibility of blocking more Chinese companies from the American market, something that could trigger more equity sell-offs.

"It has moved into a broader trade war. Initially, it was about tariffs and retaliation, now you're talking about banning companies and it's not looking good in the near-term," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.

"If you look at the U.S. economy a lot of the growth in earnings comes from what's happening overseas. Now we see that's not been helpful and as the domestic economy slows more than expected, that also could have a negative impact."

Technology stocks were again among the hardest hit, with Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) down 2.9%, Micron (NASDAQ:MU) falling 3.7% and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) slipping 1.6%.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) declined 1.4% after analysts warned that the electric car company is likely to miss its 2019 delivery target, partly because of the risk it will be hit by Chinese countermeasures on trade.

Boeing (NYSE:BA) fell 2.5% ahead of a Federal Aviation Authority meeting with international regulators to discuss the continued grounding of the airplane makers 737 Max. The agency has warned that the model could be grounded beyond October.

In commodities, gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,280.35 a troy ounce, while crude oil slumped 4% to $58.91, its lowest level in two months. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.4% to 98.222.

-Reuters contributed to this report.

Investing.com - NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) fell by 3.21% to trade at $147.38 by 09:37 (13:37 GMT) on Thursday on the NASDAQ exchange.

The volume of NVIDIA shares traded since the start of the session was 981.31K. NVIDIA has traded in a range of $147.31 to $149.69 on the day.

The stock has traded at $163.7100 at its highest and $147.3400 at its lowest during the past seven days.

Investing.com -- Crude oil prices fell sharply to their lowest since March on Thursday, as another surprisingly strong increase in U.S. stockpiles last week eased market fears about short-term supply risks, and let worries about the U.S. China trade war and its impact on longer-term demand to reassert themselves.

At 9:45 AM ET (1345 GMT), U.S. WTI crude futures were down over $2 a barrel, or 4.2%, at $58.84, breaching the $60 level for the first time since March 28. The international benchmark Brent blend traded down 3.5% at $68.52 a barrel.

The slide had already started late on Wednesday after the U.S. government revealed that crude inventories had risen by 4.74 million barrels, rather than the 600,000 barrel decline that had been expected. Stocks of gasoline and other distillates also rose, counter to expectations.

The rout continued as more harsh rhetoric from China on trade, coupled with weaker-than-expected business surveys in Germany revived fears for the health of the global economy. The International Monetary Fund then rammed home the point with a blog arguing that "the latest escalation (of the U.S.-China trade war) could significantly dent business and financial market sentiment, disrupt global supply chains, and jeopardize the projected recovery in global growth in 2019."

The Fund added that "Consumers in the US and China are unequivocally the losers," facing higher prices across the board for imported goods.

Earlier, Reuters had reported that Asian refiners may cut production in response to refining margins falling to their lowest level in 16 years. That comes on the back of anecdotal reports of increased Chinese gasoline exports in recent weeks, something that speaks to a shortfall in demand at home.

Gasoline futures meanwhile fell 3.0% to $1.9303, their lowest since early April.

Natgas futures, by contrast, edged up 0.6% to $2.56 per million British thermal units.