MW: Crude gains as U.S. stock futures rally on strong earnings
Traders await U.S. manufacturing data, comments from Fed Chairman Bernanke
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures gained early Monday to trade near $80 a barrel, as rallying global equity markets boosted sentiment and prompted traders to buy crude.
Crude oil for September delivery rose 89 cents, or 1.1%, to $79.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It earlier hit an intraday high of $79.91 a barrel.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a sharply higher opening on Wall Street, as Asian and European stock markets posted solid gains following strong earnings reports from banking giants HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC 53.50, +2.42, +4.74%) and BNP Paribas (FR:BNP 55.35, +2.62, +4.97%) .
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 111 points to 10,528. Read more on how the U.S. stock market is likely to open.
"Never before have oil prices correlated with U.S. stock markets as strongly as in the recent past," said analysts at Commerzbank AG in a note to clients.
Traders are awaiting the ISM manufacturing gauge for July which will be released at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
Also this morning, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak about the state of the American economy.
Crude futures ended higher on Friday and gained 4.4% in July, oil's best month since March and its second consecutive monthly gain.
