The New York Federal Reserve said on Wednesday its barometer of manufacturing activity in New York State contracted for a third straight month in February, but not by as much as economists had expected as orders and shipments stabilized.

U.S. business inventories rose moderately in December as businesses carefully managed stocks amid slowing demand, with the inventory-to-sales ratio hitting a two-year high.

Production at U.S. factories rebounded in January, but output in the prior month was much weaker than initially thought amid higher borrowing costs that are hurting the manufacturing sector.

Asian stock markets recovered sharply from recent losses on Thursday as affirmations of more Chinese stimulus boosted regional sentiment, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading gains after Micheal Burry’s Scion Asset Management was seen buying heavily into local players.

Oil prices rose on Thursday as positive demand forecasts from the IEA and the OPEC helped markets look past a substantially bigger-than-expected jump in weekly U.S. inventories.

The dollar advanced on Thursday after strong U.S. retail sales data underpinned the resilience of the world's largest economy, cementing the case that the Federal Reserve still has further to go in tightening rates.