Stocks Edged Higher in Early Trading

U.S. stocks opened marginally higher on Thursday, a day after dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen encouraged investors to dive back into the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately gained 18.54 points, or 0.09%, to 21,550.68. The S&P 500 was up 3.77 points, or 0.15%, to 2,447.02. The Nasdaq Composite rose 16.32 points, or 0.26%, to 6,277.49.

Oil prices slumped Thursday after the International Energy Agency said global oil supply rose in June as producers “opened the taps.”
Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August dropped 31 cents, or 0.7%, to $45.18 a barrel. September Brent crude gave up 39 cents, or 0.8%, to $47.34 a barrel.

Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand ticked up 0.1 percent in June; Federal Reserve officials are closely watching inflation, which has remained below the U.S.

Saudi Arabia is trying to support oil prices by reducing its crude shipments to the United States in a bid to cut the amount of oil in commercial storage.

Yandex, the “Google of Russia,” and Uber have agreed to merge their ride-sharing businesses in Russia and five neighboring markets with Yandex as leading partner, the companies said on Thursday.