Rally in oil shares lifts US stocks

A jump in petroleum-linked shares helped lift US stocks Tuesday after the Turkish downing of a Russian fighter jet on the Syrian border sparked a rally in the oil market.

Dow member ExxonMobil gained 2.0 percent while smaller oil producer Apache jumped 4.2 percent as sharp words between Turkey and Russia over the incident raised the fear of an escalation in tensions that could potentially affect the oil-rich Middle East.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 19.51 points (0.11 percent) at 17,812.19.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 2.55 (0.12 percent) to 2,089.14, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.33 (0.01 percent) to 5,102.81.

Government data upgraded US economic growth in the third quarter to 2.1 percent from the prior estimate of 1.5 percent. On the downside, the Conference Board's read of consumer confidence tumbled to 90.4 in November from October, due mainly to consumers' less positive view of the jobs market.

Travel stocks retreated after the State Department late Monday issued a global advisory warning US citizens of "increased terrorist threats" in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Expedia fell 2.9 percent, Priceline 1.9 percent and TripAdvisor 2.2 percent. United Continental dropped 3.0 percent and Delta Air Lines lost 3.1 percent.

Drug giants Pfizer and Allergan rose 2.0 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, one day after unveiling their $160 billion mega-merger.

Cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks gained 6.3 percent on news that revenue for the quarter ending October 31 grew 55 percent to $297.2 million.

Xerox dipped 1.3 percent as activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a 7.13 percent stake in the company and said he planned to potentially seek board representation

NXP Semiconductors climbed 6.1 percent after announcing that US securities officials cleared its proposed sale of its RP Power business to Jianguang Asset Management for $1.8 billion.