US close: stocks rebound as oil prices soar 8%

US stocks rebounded on Wednesday, responding to an 8% jump in oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day up 183.19 points, or 1.1%, at 16,366.73, and the S&P 500 closed 9.5 points, or 0.5% higher at 1,912.53.

It was the Nasdaq Composite that bucked the trend, down 12.71 points, or 0.3% at 4,503.24.

Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) during the day said commercial crude oil inventories increased 7.8m barrels to 502.7m barrels last week, compared to analysts’ estimates for a rise of 4.0m barrels.

Crude oil refinery inputs in the US averaged more than 15.6m barrels per day (bpd) during the period, 24,000 bpd less than the prior week’s average.

The American Petroleum Institute had said late Tuesday that the US crude stockpiles rose 3.8 million barrels last week by its count, less than gains in the previous week.

After the closing bell in New York, Brent crude was up 7.23% to $35.27 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate was up 8.2% to $32.55.

The lift in oil led to upward movements in the energy and material sectors in particular. ExxonMobil led the risers, up 5.2%, while Chevron was up 4.17%.

Meanwhile, the dollar suffered its worst day in the seven years since the Federal Reserve announced the start of its Treasury bond-buying programme.

It was 1.78% weaker against the yen, at JPY 117.84, 1.69% down against the euro, at EUR 0.9003, and slipped 1.3% against the pound sterling, at £0.6848.

On the companies front, Edwards Lifesciences finished the day up 8.3% after reporting better-than-expected fourth quarter numbers, including sales growth of 17% to $2.5bn.

Cadbury and Kraft Foods owner Mondelez was blaming the economy and currency fluctuations on Wednesday for its 17% drop in sales to $17bn, sending stocks tumbling down 6.48%.

S&P 500 - Risers

Chesapeake Energy $3.36 +12.37%

Freeport-McMoRan $2.85 +11.49%

Newmont Mining $22.34 +11.31%

Murphy Oil $19.26 +10.50%

Southwestern Energy $8.97 +9.79%

Hess $42.99 +9.22%

Consol Energy $8.48 +8.58%

Spectra Energy $28.41 +8.48%

Edwards Lifesciences $83.32 +8.33%

Alcoa $7.55 +8.32%

S&P 500 - Fallers

National-Oilwell Varco $28.00 -8.71%

Marathon Petroleum $37.20 -7.62%

Valero Energy $60.94 -6.65%

Robert Half International $39.24 -6.59%

Mondelez International $39.23 -6.48%

Lowes Companies $67.42 -6.19%

Alpabet $726.95 -4.93%

Yahoo $27.68 -4.75%

Amazon.com $531.07 -3.81%

Reynolds American $47.85 -3.45%