US stock market opens higher

NEW YORK (AA) - The stock market opened higher Wednesday amid a rise in oil prices and positive macroeconomic data.

The Dow added 80 points to begin the day at 19,944 while S&P 500 was up eight points to 2,287.

The Nasdaq increased 39 points to start the first trading day of February at 5,653.

The U.S. economy added 246,000 private sector jobs in January, marking its strongest monthly gain in the past seven months.

At the first bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 0.9 percent to $53.34 a barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude was at $56.19 -- a 1 percent increase.