US stock market opens at record high

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - The stock market’s three main indexes hit record highs at Tuesday’s opening as oil prices continued to soar.

The Dow added 37 points to begin the new day at 18,993 and climbed above 19,000 points for the first time ever. The S&P 500 was up five points at 2,203 while the Nasdaq rose 19 points to start the day at 5,388.

All three indexes closed Monday at their highest point since December 1999.

Crude oil prices continued to rise Tuesday amid hopes that OPEC and Russia would reach a deal on Nov. 30 to freeze oil production levels.

At the first bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $48.31 per barrel -- a 0.1 percent increase -- and international benchmark Brent crude was at $49.19 a barrel -- a 0.6 percent gain.