US stocks open higher, shaking off another drop in China

US stock futures were marginally higher. That was despite a relatively healthy USA employment report Friday.

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Intel are among the companies on this week’s earnings horizon in the US. China’s Shanghai composite fell 5.3 percent on Monday.

“The moves in oil and the rest of the commodities have been so extreme that producing companies and countries are feeling the heat”, Andy Pfaff, the chief investment officer for commodities at MitonOptimal Group, said by phone from Cape Town. “Those two things are keeping investors on pins and needles right now”.

The dollar gained 0.4 percent to 117.71 yen, having touched its lowest since late August at 116.70 yen.

Commodity-dependent Kazakhstan’s tenge was on the end of another hiding though there was a 1 percent bounce to $16.25 for South Africa’s rand after it had fallen nearly 10 percent at one point on Monday.

The Shanghai gauge rose 0.3 percent to 3,026.54 at 1:15 pm on Tuesday, after swinging around the 3,000 level.

All of the major stock indexes are down sharply for the year. The currency’s spike was spurred by what investors speculate was aggressive intervention by China, but stocks suffered as doubts grew over the policymakers’ true intention.

U.S. markets provided some positivity, with the Dow and S&P 500 moving higher. “It is important for investor sentiment that activity data from China delivers to market expectations”. It was also the market’s worst-ever opening week of a year.

Oil prices fell for a sixth straight session to start the new year, as traders cited fears over slowing demand in China. Analysts at BNP Paribas said it was “not a good sign for the region”.

In Shenzhen, Hebei Steel (000709.SZ), down 2.2 percent to 3.54 yuan; Myhome (000667.SZ), down 5.8 percent to 5.35 yuan and BOE Technology (000725.SZ), up 0.4 percent to 2.76 yuan were among the most actively traded. The last time it was lower was December 2003.

ENERGY: A day after slumping 5.3 percent, the price of USA crude oil slipped another 21 cents to $31.19 a barrel in NY. Utilities stocks were among the biggest gainers.

GAME OVER: Video game retailer GameStop sank 8.1 percent, the worst performer in the S&P 500 index.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index bounced back as shares of retailers rallied, after earlier dropping to its lowest level in more than three months. That’s on top of a loss of 24 percent for 2015. The stock lost $6.66 to $102.32.

HCA Holdings also rose after the hospital operator raised its profit forecast. The stock added $3.77 to $68.04.

At 1230 GMT Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 1.6 percent, and Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 both rose 2.1 percent.

European stock markets eked out gains in volatile trade Monday after another tumble across Asia that saw Shanghai plunge more than five percent on stubborn worries about China’s economic slowdown.

Copper dropped 0.2 percent, while tin and nickel declined more than 1 percent.