Stocks: U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's October meeting hardened expectations of a December interest rate hike and data showed jobless claims fell.

The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) rose 3.58 points, or 0.02 percent, to 17,740.74. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 0.57 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,084.15 and the Nasdaq Composite index (IXIC) added 3.87 points, or 0.08 percent, to 5,079.07.

Commodities: Oil prices reversed earlier gains to trade lower on Thursday, as lingering concerns over a glut in world markets drove down prices.

Crude oil for delivery in December on the New York Mercantile Exchange shed 51 cents, or 1.25%, to trade at $40.24 a barrel during U.S. morning hours. It earlier fell to $39.89, the lowest since August 27.

Meanwhile, the more actively traded January contract slumped 26 cents, or 0.62%, to $41.69.

Forex: The dollar pared losses against the other major currencies on Thursday, after data showed that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. fell in line with expectations last week.

USD/JPY was down 0.35% at 123.20, but still close to Wednesday's three-month high of 123.75.

Economic Indicators: The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to a fairly robust labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 271,000 for the week ended Nov. 14, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's claims were unrevised.

Claims have now held below the 300,000 threshold for 37 consecutive weeks, the longest stretch in years, and are not too far from levels last seen in the early 1970s. Claims below this level are usually associated with a healthy jobs market.

Economic Indicators: Manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia-region in November grew for the first time in three months, supporting the case for a U.S. interest rate hike next month, official data showed on Thursday.

In a report, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index improved to 1.9 this month from October's reading of -4.5. Analysts had expected the index to rise to -1.0 in November.

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Crude oil dropped below $40 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since August. It's the latest sign that the world still has more oil than it needs despite production cuts in the U.S. This is great news for American drivers, many of whom will soon be enjoying gasoline prices below $2-a-gallon.

That's the cheapest price since the final week of August when market mayhem rocked Wall Street amid fears about China's economic slowdown. Oil settled at $40.75, but it's still down 13% this month.

Everything was selling off in August. This time, oil is falling, but the stock market overall posted solid gains Wednesday and is about flat in November.

Energy bulls had been hoping that the worst was over for oil. Price rose for much of September and October as concerns about a global recession faded. Oil even briefly topped $50 a barrel in early October after Russia launched military operations in Syria, raising the specter of supply disruptions.

But the price fell again, mainly for these 3 reasons:

1.) OPEC fuels 'massive' oversupply:

Last week, the International Energy Agency warned the supply glut is actually getting worse. It reported a record 3 billion barrels of oil in global stockpiles, describing it as a "massive cushion."

The IEA pointed to "vigorous production" from OPEC nations such as Saudi Arabia, which has steadfastly refused to cut output despite depressed prices.

Iraq is also flooding the U.S. with tons of oil. The U.S. more than doubled its imports of oil from Iraq between August and September, according to a Platts analysis. The IEA also said Russian production is at a post-Soviet record and is "likely to remain robust in 2016."

2.) U.S. drillers are resilient

Yes, some cracks have begun to emerge in the U.S. energy boom. American oil production actually decreased significantly from August to September to a one-year low.

But today's oil drillers are sharp, allowing them to quickly ramp up production once prices rise. Baker Hughes said the number of U.S. oil rigs increased slightly last week, the first rise in three months. That's negative for oil prices because the massive growth in American oil production is what caused prices to crash in the first place. Few predicted quite this much oil supply.

3.) The dollar keeps getting stronger

The U.S. dollar continues to strengthen as investors bet the Federal Reserve is finally ready to raise interest rates. So far this month the dollar has soared 3% against a basket of currencies. It's also nearing parity with the euro.

All of that is bad news for oil because a stronger dollar makes commodities like crude that are priced in dollars more expensive to overseas buyers, so they tend to buy even less. The latest slide in oil prices could bring smiles to U.S. consumers as they start shopping for the holidays.

But it will also create headaches for oil companies like Chevron (CVX)and ExxonMobil (XOM). Shares of companies in the S&P 500 energy sector have tumbled 16% so far this year, making them the worst performers. Energy companies that loaded up on debt before oil prices crashed run the risk of defaulting on their loans if they can't make money in the current environment.

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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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Stocks: U.S. stock indexes opened higher on Tuesday as better-than-expected earnings from Wal-Mart (N:WMT) and Home Depot (N:HD) allayed fears of a retail slowdown after last week's sharp selloff in the sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) rose 12.5 points, or 0.07 percent, to 17,495.51, the S&P 500 (SPX) gained 1.34 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,054.53 and the Nasdaq Composite index (IXIC) added 6.70 points, or 0.13 percent, to 4,991.32.

Commodities: Oil prices fell on Tuesday, erasing gains linked to security fears after the Paris attacks, as investor focused again on the global oversupply in crude and petroleum products that is showing no signs of abating.

Analysts said that despite the deadly Paris attacks and French retaliation against Islamic State (IS) in Syria, prices would remain low for the rest of the year and into 2016 as oil markets stay oversupplied.

Forex: The dollar continued to hover at seven-month highs against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after upbeat U.S. inflation data added to hopes that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its meeting next month.

USD/JPY edged up 0.12% to one-week highs of 123.32.

Economic Indicators:U.S. consumer prices increased in October after two straight months of declines as the cost of gasoline and a range of other goods rose.

The Commerce Department said the consumer price index rose 0.2% last month, in line with economists' forecasts. The modest uptick in inflation could offer more support to expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates next month.

Economic Indicators: Industrial production in the U.S. fell for the third straight month in October, dampening optimism over the health of the economy, official data showed on Tuesday.

In a report, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production decreased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, disappointing expectations for a gain of 0.1%. Industrial production fell by 0.2% in September. Meanwhile, manufacturing production rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, beating forecasts for a 0.2% increase and following a decline of 0.1% in September.

The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, dipped to 77.5% in October from 77.7% a month earlier, in line with expectations.

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Finally! Some good news from a retailer getting ready for the holidays. Walmart reported sales and earnings on Tuesday that topped Wall Street's forecasts.

Walmart is fighting the losing trend. Several prominent retailers have already reported poor results recently, including Macy's (M), Gap (GPS) and Nordstrom (JWN).

That has led to concerns that retailers may have to use massive discounts to lure shoppers in their stores this holiday season, promotions that could crush these companies' already wafer-thin profit margins.

Still, it's not as if expectations were all that high for the company. Walmart warned last month that sales would be weak and that wage hikes it announced earlier this year would hurt its profits. The stock is down 33% this year, making it the worst performer in the Dow.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) disclosed on Monday that it cut its stake in the retailer in the third quarter, before the earnings warning. Walmart did report its fifth consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth in the U.S. And store traffic rose 1.7%. Those are encouraging signs.

CEO Doug McMillon said in the company's earnings release that the company is "taking the right steps to win with customers." But he conceded that Walmart still has "work to do." Competition from Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) has also hurt Walmart, along with other retailers. Walmart is investing heavily in its own online retailing operations. Growth, however, has been slow.

The company said that e-commerce sales were up only 10% from a year ago. Walmart cited "pressures in key international markets." The strong dollar is a problem for Walmart -- which generates about a quarter of its sales overseas. Nonetheless, Wall Street seemed relieved that the company's results were not worse. Neither was its outlook.

The company said that it expects fourth quarter earnings to be in a range of $1.40 to $1.55 a share. The current consensus estimate of analysts for the quarter is $1.43 a share.

Shares of Walmart (WMT) rose more than 2.5% in premarket trading on the news.

Walmart is the first of several big retailers to report its quarterly sales and outlook this week. Target (TGT) and Best Buy (BBY) are on tap to release their results later this week.

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Marriott International Inc. will buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc for $12.2 billion to create the world's largest hotel chain with top brands including Sheraton, Ritz Carlton and the Autograph Collection.

The combined company will own or franchise more than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms worldwide and give Marriott greater presence in markets such as Europe, Latin America and Asia including India and China.

Marriott currently has three-quarters of its rooms in the United States. Starwood, which also owns St. Regis and Aloft hotel brands, gets nearly two-thirds of its revenue from outside the country.

Starwood shares fell 5.2 percent to $71.07 in premarket trading on Monday, below the offer price of $72.08, indicating investors were unhappy with the offer being at a 4 percent discount to the stock's Friday close. Marriott shares fell 1.3 percent to $71.65.

"We have been in the business for a long time but Starwood is more global than Marriott is," Marriott Chief Executive Arne Sorenson, who will lead the combined company, told CNBC. "It's a good thing that we will have more sources (of growth) from around the world."

Starwood had essentially put itself up for sale in April, when it said it was considering strategic alternatives, taking about 14 percent off its stock up to Friday's close.

The company, which had a market value of $12.67 billion as of Friday, had reached out to InterContinental Hotels Group Plc (IHG.L), Wyndham Worldwide Corp (WYN.N) and sovereign wealth funds for a possible deal since July, sources had told Reuters.

Starwood's shareholders will get 0.92 Marriott Class A share and $2 in cash for each share held. They will also get about $7.80 per share from the spinoff of Starwood's timeshare business and subsequent merger with Interval Leisure Group Inc (IILG.O), announced in February.

Marriott said it expected one-time transaction cost of $100 million-$150 million related to the acquisition, which was expected to add to earnings from the second year after it closes.

After the transaction closes, the company is expected to add three Starwood members to its board, which will expand to 14 members. The deal is expected to close in mid-2016, the companies said.

Lazard and Citigroup advised Starwood on the deal and Deutsche Bank Securities advised Marriott.

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Stocks: U.S. stock indexes opened slightly lower on Monday after recovering most of their weekend losses following Friday's attacks in Paris.

The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) fell 20.38 points, or 0.12 percent, to 17,224.86, the S&P 500 (SPX) lost 1.98 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,021.06 and the Nasdaq Composite index (IXIC) dropped 12.21 points, or 0.25 percent, to 4,915.68.

Stocks: Marriott International Inc (O:MAR) will buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (N:HOT) for $12.2 billion to create the world's largest hotel chain with top brands including Sheraton, Ritz Carlton and the Autograph Collection.

The combined company will own or franchise more than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms worldwide and give Marriott greater presence in markets such as Europe, Latin America and Asia including India and China.

Forex: The dollar held gains against the other major currencies on Monday, despite the release of downbeat manufacturing activity data from New York, as growing expectations for a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve continued to support the greenback.

EUR/USD slid 0.32% to six-month lows of 1.0740.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its general business conditions index improved to -10.7 this month from a reading of -11.4 in October. Analysts had expected the index to rise to -6.0 in November.

Japan’s Economy: Japan's economy fell back into a recession in the third quarter, according to official figures released on Monday. The weak data underlined how government policies have struggled to bolster growth in the world’s third-largest economy.

Japan’s gross domestic product shrank by an annual 0.8% in the three months to September, after a 1.2% contraction in the second quarter. Two consecutive quarters of declines mark a technical recession. The data added to pressure on the government and the Bank of Japan to expand a stimulus package championed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Economic Indicators: The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions contracted for the fourth straight month in November, dampening optimism over the strength of the economy, official data showed on Monday.

In a report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index improved to -10.7 this month from a reading of -11.4 in October. Analysts had expected the index to rise to -6.0 in November.

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The euro fell to six-and-a-half month lows against the yen on Monday, and was also weaker against the dollar and the pound after terror attacks in Paris hit risk sentiment.

EUR/JPY fell to lows of 130.66, the lowest level since April 29, and was last at 131.92.

Demand for safe haven assets was boosted after attackers killed more than 130 people in Paris on Friday, prompting retaliatory French air strikes against Islamic State in Syria.

The single currency was already under pressure from heightened expectations that the European Central Bank will enlarge its stimulus program, aimed at boosting price growth in the euro area, before the years end.

ECB President Mario Draghi was to speak at an event in Madrid later in the day.

The yen showed little reaction after data showing that Japan’s economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.8% in the three months to September, after a 1.2% contraction in the previous quarter, putting the country into a technical recession.

The weak data added to pressure on the Bank of Japan to step up monetary easing measures to shore up growth.

EUR/USD hit lows of 1.0688, not far from the seven-month lows of 1.0673 set early last week, and was last at 1.0736, off 0.34% for the day.

EUR/GBP hit low of 0.7023, the weakest level since August 7 and was last at 0.7066, little changed for the day.

The dollar moved higher against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.18% to 122.82.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.27% to 99.15.

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Stocks: U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Friday, weighed down by weak October retail sales data and disappointing forecasts from department store chains as well as Cisco (O:CSCO).

The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) fell 37.95 points, or 0.22 percent, to 17,410.12. The S&P 500 (SPX) lost 5.33 points, or 0.26 percent, to 2,040.64 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) dropped 24.05 points, or 0.48 percent, to 4,981.03.

Economic Indicators: U.S. retail sales rose less than expected in October amid a surprise decline in automobile purchases, suggesting a slowdown in consumer spending that could temper expectations of a strong pickup in fourth-quarter economic growth. The Commerce Department said on Friday retail sales edged up 0.1 percent last month after being unchanged in September.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales increasing 0.3 percent in October after a previously reported 0.1 percent increase in September. Sales at auto dealerships fell 0.5 percent last month after rising 1.4 percent in September. The decline is surprising given that motor vehicle manufacturers reported strong sales for October.

Stocks: Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) has set a deadline at the end of November for its whistleblower program designed to encourage workers to disclose information about the carmaker's two emissions scandals in a move to speed up investigations.

Europe's largest carmaker has been making slow progress in finding out who had knowledge of the rigging of diesel emissions tests two months after the manipulations became public in the United States, and last week also admitted to cheating on carbon dioxide emissions certifications.

Commodities: Brent crude edged up from a sharp drop on Friday, but was on track for the biggest weekly loss in more than two months as swelling stocks weighed on the market.

The International Energy Agency said there was a record 3 billion barrels in tanks worldwide.

"The underlying sentiment is bearish," said PVM analyst Tamas Varga. "I don't see anything that could support prices rising in the long term."

Forex: The dollar rose against the other major currencies on Friday, recovering from mild losses posted after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave no indication on the timing of a potential rate hike as investors awaited the release of U.S. data later in the day.

USD/JPY edged up 0.15% to 122.77.

The dollar weakened mildly after Fed Chair Janet Yellen refrained from giving any indications on the near-term outlook for the U.S. economy or monetary policy in a speech on Thursday.

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Growth in the eurozone slowed to 0.3 percent in the third quarter, compared with the previous quarter when it grew by 0.4 percent. Germany, the region's largest economy, also slowed down to grow by 0.3 percent as falling exports weighed on economic growth.

Germany's growth figure matched market expectations but was slower than the 0.4 percent expansion in the previous quarter, while the GDP for the 19-nation eurozone was below market expectations of 0.4 percent. Growth in the 28-nation European Union held steady at 0.4 percent, according to official data.

In Germany, where the economy is driven by exports, higher spending by households and the government helped offset declines in foreign trade, the country's official statistics agency said.

"According to preliminary estimates, growth was held back by foreign trade because imports rose far more strongly than exports," the agency added. Germany expanded 1.7 percent from a year earlier if adjusted seasonally.

France’s GDP also grew 0.3 percent last quarter, a separate data released earlier showed. GDP figures for the largest eurozone economies have lagged due to weak trade performance. Data showed Italy and Netherlands also reported marginal expansions Friday, while Portugal was flat and Finland reported a small decline in its economy.

The third quarter was also marred by Greece’s near-exit from the bloc, denting investor confidence in the region. The bloc's waning growth may reportedly encourage the European Central Bank to hold off on a hike in interest rates even as investors expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike rates for the first time in nine years at its December meeting.

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