US stocks rally on rising oil, upbeat data

U.S. stocks ticked up Wednesday, as investors cheered over a strong rebound in oil prices amid generally upbeat economic reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 112.58 points, or 0.62 percent, to 18,281.03. The S&P 500 gained 9.24 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,159.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 26.36 points, or 0.50 percent, to 5,316.02.

Oil prices posted solid gains Wednesday, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude rising to their highest since June, after official data showed a surprise weekly drawdown in U.S. crude inventories.

Meanwhile, the country's economic data came out mostly positive. The Non-Manufacturing Index, which measures activity in the U.S. service sector, registered 57.1 percent in September, 5.7 percentage points higher than the August reading and well above market consensus of 52.9, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said in its monthly survey Wednesday.

"While the September rebound is a welcome sign and quells some concerns the economy is heading quickly into a soft path, it is important the strength carry through to Q4. Recent averages - on a 3-month to 6-month look back - all are moving sideways," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial.

On other economic news, U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in August increased 0.7 billion U.S. dollars or 0.2 percent to 453.1 billion dollars, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Analysts had expected a 0.2-percent decline.

U.S. private sector employment increased by 154,000 jobs from August to September, missing market expectations, said the September ADP National Employment Report Wednesday.

The ADP figure is watched closely as a pre-indicator for the non-farm payrolls report due Friday. 

Source : XINHUA