NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
U.S. stock markets moved slightly higher at the start of trading Wednesday following news OPEC will soon boost oil production, a move that led to an easing in the price of crude oil.
The Nasdaq composite (up 12.81 to 1,976.24, Charts), the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 3.15 to 1,119.36, Charts) index, and Dow Jones industrial average (up 22.49 to 10,241.83, Charts) moved modestly higher in early trade. All three indexes hit one-month lows in the previous session.
Oil prices, which had ran up Tuesday, receded after Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said OPEC would boost production in August. Prices raced towards $40 a barrel in New York Tuesday following supply disruptions over the holiday weekend. On Wednesday, Brent crude fell 52 cents to $36.58 a barrel in London.
Techs stay in the spotlight
Technology stocks were in the news again following a chip stock sell-off the previous session.
PeopleSoft (PSFT: down $0.95 to $15.87, Research, Estimates) cut its second-quarter outlook on the back of its attempts to stave off a hostile takeover from Oracle.
"Although we have been able to meet or exceed our financial projections since Oracle launched their hostile tender offer more than a year ago, the extensive publicity of the antitrust trial during the last month of our quarter was impossible to completely overcome," said Craig Conway, PeopleSoft President and CEO, in a press statement.
"We believe the adverse impact to our business has been substantial, with even greater impact this past month."
Elsewhere in the tech sector, Microsoft (MSFT: down $0.06 to $27.96, Research, Estimates) plans to cut costs by $1 billion this year while stepping up new product development to spur earnings and stock prices, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a 5,000 word memo to employees from CEO Steve Ballmer. The news had little impact on the stock.
Treasury prices were little changed with the 10-year note dipping 1/32 of a point in price to yield 4.47 percent, down modestly from 4.48 percent late Tuesday afternoon. The dollar, meanwhile, fell versus both the yen and the euro.
Among other commodities markets, COMEX gold rose $5.30 to $398.30 an ounce.
European markets edged lower in afternoon-trading there and Japanese stocks struck a three-week low.
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