Oil rally helps lift US stocks

A rally in petroleum-linked equities helped lift US stocks Wednesday, April 15, 2015, following mixed earnings and economic data.  AP FILE PHOTO

NEW YORK–A rally in petroleum-linked equities helped lift US stocks Wednesday following mixed earnings and economic data.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,108.34, up 71.64 points (0.40 percent).

The broad-based S&500 rose 10.44 (0.50 percent) to 2,106.28, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 33.73 (0.68 percent) to 5,011.02.

Dow member ExxonMobil rose 1.7 percent and Marathon Oil surged 4.4 percent as US crude prices finished at a 2015 peak.

Bank of America fell 1.2 percent after first-quarter earnings came in below expectations, while Dow member Intel jumped 4.3 percent as first-quarter net income rose three percent to $2 billion despite weakness in its personal computer-related business.

Most regions of the US economy expanded in recent weeks, although oil industry layoffs have grown, the Federal Reserve said in a report.

Separately, the Fed said US industrial output fell 0.6 percent in March.