In the U.S., focus turns to the EIA's weekly inventories report which is expected to show a 1.1 million barrel increase in crude stocks, a first build in 10 weeks, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.

Nvidia and other U.S. tech stocks are holding a bit steadier after tumbling the day before on doubts about whether the artificial-intelligence frenzy really needs all the dollars being poured into it