US stock market opens higher

NEW YORK (AA) - The stock market opened higher on Tuesday with a rise in crude oil prices.

The Dow added 24 points to begin the first trading day of the week at 19,957. The S&P 500 was up two points at 2,266.

The Nasdaq rose seven points to start trading at 5,469.

At the opening bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at $53.51 a barrel -- a 1 percent rise.

International benchmark Brent crude was up 0.9 percent to $54.34 per barrel -- a 0.9 percent increase.

Wall Street was closed on Monday, in observance of Christmas on Sunday.