Energy, banking shares lead US stocks higher
Energy and banking shares led US stocks higher Wednesday following strong results from Halliburton and Morgan Stanley and another rise in oil prices, which ended at their highest level this year.
Halliburton jumped 4.3 percent after it described a pickup in North American activity and offered an improved outlook for oil services following a two-year slump.
Morgan Stanley climbed 1.9 percent as it reported a 61.7 percent jump in third-quarter earnings to $1.5 billion due to strong gains in its trading division.
That capped a solid round of earnings for big banks. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America all rose at least one percent.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 18,024.26, up 0.2 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to 2,144.38, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1 percent at 5,246.41.