Advertisement
Singapore markets closed
  • Straits Times Index

    3,224.01
    -27.70 (-0.85%)
     
  • Nikkei

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    70,742.61
    +1,931.84 (+2.81%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,261.27
    +12.78 (+0.24%)
     
  • Dow

    39,833.09
    +73.01 (+0.18%)
     
  • Nasdaq

    16,401.80
    +2.28 (+0.01%)
     
  • Gold

    2,241.70
    +29.00 (+1.31%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    83.07
    +1.72 (+2.11%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.2060
    +0.0100 (+0.24%)
     
  • FTSE Bursa Malaysia

    1,530.60
    -7.82 (-0.51%)
     
  • Jakarta Composite Index

    7,288.81
    -21.28 (-0.29%)
     
  • PSE Index

    6,903.53
    +5.36 (+0.08%)
     

US stocks rally continues as oil rises

Wall Street stocks scored strong gains for the second day in a row Wednesday as investors took a positive view of increasing oil prices and potentially higher US interest rates.

Energy shares were among the big winners as US oil prices closed at their highest price of the year, just shy of $50 a barrel. Banking shares were also strong on the prospect that the Federal Reserve could soon hike interest rates.

"The market is embracing the idea that if the Fed moves in June or July, the bull market can continue, so we have an economy that is growing at a modest pace," said Alan Skrainka, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth Management.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.8 percent to 17,851.51.

ADVERTISEMENT

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent to 2,090.54, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.7 percent to 4,894.89.

Citigroup shares added 2.4 percent even as US regulators announced $425 million in fines over charges it attempted to manipulate Libor and other leading financial benchmarks.

Oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron rose 0.7 percent and 1.6 percent respectively as they turned back shareholder efforts to force them to take more action on climate change.

Midsized petroleum companies Marathon Oil and Anadarko Petroleum climbed nearly four percent on higher oil prices.

Technology shares were also generally higher, with Apple gaining 1.8 percent, Microsoft 1.0 percent and Netflix 2.4 percent.

Hewlett Packard Enterprises jumped 6.8 percent after announcing it will spin off and merge its corporate services business into Computer Sciences Corp. in a deal valued at $8.5 billion. Computer Sciences soared 42.1 percent as it said the merger would create one of the world's largest information technology services companies, with more than 5,000 clients in 70 countries.

Chinese online giant Alibaba slumped 6.8 percent after disclosing that US securities regulators were probing its accounting for possible violations of US securities laws. Yahoo, which holds a large stake in Alibaba, lost 5.2 percent.