U.S. stocks reversed early sharp losses to end higher Wednesday, as signs of stabilization in oil prices soothed anxious investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 53.21 points, or 0.32 percent, to 16,484.99. The S&P 500 added 8.53 points, or 0.44 percent, to 1,929.80. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 39.02 points, or 0.87 percent, to 4,542.61. Oil prices pared early deep losses to close higher Wednesday, with Brent crude jumping over 3 percent, as data showed U.S. gasoline demand rose 5.2 percent over the past four weeks compared with a year ago.
The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery moved up 0.28 U. S. dollar to settle at 32.15 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for April delivery climbed 1.14 dollars to close at 34.41 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. The volatility in oil prices has dominated market sentiment recently.
After tumbling about 18 percent since the beginning of the year, U.S. oil has been traded around 30 U.S. dollars a barrel recently amid persistent worries about a global supply glut. On the economic front, U.S. sales of new single-family houses in January 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 494, 000, missing market estimates of 520,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
This is 9.2 percent below the revised December rate of 544,000 and is 5.2 percent below the January 2015 estimate of 521,000. Overseas, Chinese shares ended higher after volatile trading Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.88 percent to close at 2,928.9 points. European equities suffered big losses Wednesday amid weak earnings reports.
German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange plunged 2.64 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index lost 1.60 percent. The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, fell 1.24 percent to end at 20.72 Wednesday.
In other markets, the U.S. dollar traded mixed against other major currencies Wednesday as the economic data from the country came out worse than expected. In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1013 dollars from 1.1014 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 111.77 Japanese yen, lower than 112.00 yen of the previous session.
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange extended gains Wednesday, with the most active gold contract for April delivery moving up 16.5 dollars, or 1.35 percent, to settle at 1,239.10 dollars per ounce.
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