US stock market hits record high as oil soars

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - Wall Street indexes opened higher Tuesday, reaching a record high thanks largely to a rise in oil prices and better than expected jobs data.

The Dow Jones rose 90 points to begin the day at 18,317 points while the S&P 500 was up 12 points to open at 2,149. The Nasdaq gained 33 points to begin the day at 5,021.

With a strong opening, the Nasdaq erased all of its losses this year. After the bell, the Dow quickly reached 18,354 and the S&P climbed to 2,152 points to hit record levels.

Oil prices have been rising following OPEC’s announcement that it expects global oil demand to increase this year and the next.

At the first bell, the American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at $46.09 a barrel with a 2.8 percent increase while the international benchmark Brent crude was at $47.84 per barrel with a 3.2 percent gain.