Stocks: Wall Street was led higher by Apple and energy stocks, ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's October meeting which are likely to underpin expectations of an interest rate increase next month.
Apple's shares (O:AAPL) were up 3.2 percent at $117.31 after Goldman Sachs (N:GS) added the iPhone maker to its "conviction buy" list, saying it sees potential for the stock gaining as much as 43 percent from current levels.
Commodities: Oil rose on Wednesday on reports of falling stockpiles and rising refinery activity in the United States, but analysts said a global supply glut would keep prices under pressure.
Brent crude futures (LCOc1) were up 77 cents at $44.34 per barrel by 0937 ET after settling 99 cents lower the day before. U.S. crude futures (CLc1) were up 50 cents at $41.17 a barrel.
Economic Indicators: The number of mortgage applications in the U.S. rose for the first time in four weeks last week, despite rising interest rates, industry data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Mortgage Bankers Association said their mortgage market index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased by a seasonally adjusted 6.2% in the week ending November 13 to 433.9. That follows a drop of 1.3% to 408.7 in the preceding week.
Forex: The U.S. dollar edged higher against its Canadian counterpart on Wednesday, as speculation over a potential U.S. rate hike next month supported the greenback despite the release of mixed U.S. housing sector reports. USD/CAD hit 1.3348 during early U.S. trade, the pair's highest since Monday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3334, adding 0.10%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3221, the low of November 12 and resistance at 1.3432, the high of September 30.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported that housing starts dropped 11% to 1.060 million units last month from September’s total of 1.191 million units. Analysts had expected a decline of 3.9% to 1.160 million.
Meanwhile, the number of U.S. building permits issued rose 4.1% to 1.150 million units from September’s total of 1.105 million, broadly in line with market expectations.
Policy Makers: Global financial markets have settled since the August turmoil that caused the U.S. Federal Reserve to delay raising rates, so that it will soon be appropriate to make the policy change, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said on Wednesday.
"I am now reasonably satisfied the situation has settled down... So I am comfortable with moving off zero soon, conditioned on no marked deterioration in economic conditions," Lockhart told a conference of bankers, traders and regulators.
"I believe it will soon be appropriate to begin a new policy phase," he said, adding he will monitor economic data between now and a policy meeting on Dec. 15-16.
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