Stocks Opened Little Changed as Oil Edged Up

U.S. stocks opened  little changed on Monday as oil prices edged higher after Saudi Arabia advocated cooperation among producers and China cut a key reserve requirement ratio. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 23.35 points, or 0.14%, to 16,663.32. The S&P 500 was up 0.92 point, or 0.05%, to 1,948.97. The Nasdaq Composite gained 10.07 points, or 0.22%, to 4,600.54.

China’s central bank said it will lower the amount of deposits banks hold in reserve by 0.5 percentage point, as a burgeoning liquidity shortage outweighs its concerns over the impact of more credit-easing on the Chinese currency.

Brent crude futures edged higher on Monday, on rising hopes that the market has bottomed out and as OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said it would work with other producers to limit oil market volatility. Brent futures were trading at $35.54 a barrel at 1234 GMT (07:34 a.m. EST), up 44 cents from their previous close. U.S. crude futures were up 17 cents at $32.95.

Alibaba Group Holding and its Chairman Jack Ma and Vice Chairman Joe Tsai have taken part in a share buyback worth a combined $500 million as part of a $4 billion stock repurchase scheme announced in August, the company said on Monday.

Amazon (AMZN.O) has launched its biggest foray into food outside of the United States with a deal in Britain to offer fresh and frozen goods to customers, in some places as quickly as under one hour, in a deal with supermarket Morrisons. (MRW.L)

Citigroup Inc. has reached a deal to sell its $3 billion stake in China Guangfa Bank to China Life Insurance Co. The New York- based bank is offloading the 20% stake to China’s biggest life insurance company by premiums.

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