While you were sleeping: UPDATED US stocks stall as oil sinks below $US50

Oil dropped for the second consecutive session amid intensifying concern about record US stockpiles, while stocks on Wall Street were largely unchanged. 

The euro strengthened as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said risks to the region's growth had become less pronounced.

West Texas Intermediate for April delivery settled at $US49.28 a barrel, a 2% fall after dropping as low as $US48.79. This is the lowest settlement since December 7 and the first time it has dipped below $US50 a barrel this year.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, lost 1.7%, to $US52.19.

"People are nervous about the global supply-demand balance," Adam Sieminski, a scholar at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and former head of the Energy Information Administration, told Bloomberg.

"Shale is coming back with $US50 oil and there's uncertainty about whether Opec and its partners are going to roll over the production agreement."

Wall Street edgeded higher as investors eyed the latest US jobs data. A Labour Department report showed that initial claims for state unemployment benefits climbed 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 243,000 for the week ended March 4.

"There is no evidence of a pickup in involuntary employment separations,"John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York, told Reuters. "We view this as evidence of a tight labour market."

Biggest job surge in three years
Indeed, the ADP National Employment report on Wednesday showed US private payrolls posted the largest jump in nearly three years, well above economists' expectations.

The government's nonfarm payrolls report, due today, is expected to show that employers added about 200,000 jobs in February, according to a Bloomberg poll, while a Reuters survey predicts a gain of 190,000 jobs.

Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen last week signalled the central bank will raise interest rates next week. The Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day meeting on March 14.

At the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.46 points to 20,858.19, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added just over one point to 5838.81 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index also rose marginally to 2364.87.

"The market is setting up for the two-part symphony we are going to see over the next four trading days, the first is the jobs number and then the Fed meeting, which is the real big event," Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US in New York, told Reuters.

In the Dow, gains in shares of Johnson & Johnson and those of Intel, up 1.3% and 0.9% respectively, offset declines in shares of Caterpillar and those of IBM, down 1.8% and 1.4% respectively.

The session marked the eighth-year anniversary of the Dow's low point of 6547.05 on March 9 during the global financial crisis. Since then the index has more than tripled.

Lower risk in Europe
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the day with a gain of less than of 0.1% from the previous close amid a more optimistic tone from the ECB's Draghi.

"The risks surrounding the euro area growth outlook have become less pronounced, but remain tilted to the downside and relate predominantly to global factors," Mr Draghi said at the end of a policy meeting at which the central bank kept its asset-purchase programme and interest rate unchanged.

Germany's DAX Index added 0.1%, while France's CAC 40 Index rose 0.4%.

Quantitative easing "is here to stay in the euro zone, until at least the end of this year. However, more policy action is less likely because deflation risks have receded," Kathleen Brooks, research director at City Index, wrote in a note, Bloomberg reported.

"Reading between the lines suggests that the next change from the ECB will be towards removing accommodation and not adding it."

The UK's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.3%.

Shares of France's Carrefour slid 4% after the world's second-largest retailer posted results that disappointed investors "in a difficult competitive environment" in its home market.

(BusinessDesk)