Stocks smell sub-$50 oil?

Chance for oil to fall below milestone could lift markets at Thursday's open.
April 14, 2005: 6:17 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks were poised for a slightly higher open Thursday on new hopes that oil could fall below the $50 a barrel mark.

U.S. stock futures were up in early trading, indicating a higher opening for stocks.

Oil prices were slightly higher early Thursday after reaching an overnight low of $50.06 for U.S. light crude. But the sell-off of the last two weeks could take oil prices below that $50 mark later in the day.


The May light crude contract gained 24 cents to $50.46 a barrel in electronic trading, while the May contract for Brent crude rose 40 cents to $50.88.

Major markets in Asia closed lower Thursday. Major European markets also were lower in early trading.

Shares of Apple Computer (Research) were down slightly in European trading. The company posted better than forecast earnings Wednesday after the market close, but a more cautious than expected revenue target for the current period hit the stock.

By contrast, shares of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (Research) climbed in European trading despite posting a quarterly loss rather than the narrow profit forecast by analysts. Investors cheered the announcement that the company would spin off its flash memory joint venture.

Economic reports due Thursday include weekly jobless claims and business inventories.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast that the number of people filing for initial jobless claims last week edged down to 330,000 from 334,000 the previous week, while inventories are forecast to be up 0.5 percent for February following at 0.9 percent gain in January.

Treasury prices were little changed, leaving the yield on the 10-year note at the 4.36 percent level. The dollar gained ground on the euro and the yen.

In corporate news, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made a surprise recommendation toallow use of silicone-filled breast implants from Mentor (Research) The advice came the day after the same panel came out against use of rival Inamed' (Research)s product .

The news lifted Mentor's stock more than 10 percent in after-hours trading.