US stock market opens higher amid rise in oil prices

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - The U.S. stock market opened higher Wednesday amid a rise in oil prices.

The Dow added 35 points to start the day at 19,891 while the S&P 500 rose one point to 2,270.

The Nasdaq also gained one point to open at 5,553.

At the first bell in Wall Street, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $51.43 per barrel with a 1.2 percent increase. International benchmark Brent crude was at $54.31 a barrel -- a 1.3 percent gain.

Market and investors remain focused on changes to the U.S.' weekly crude oil and gasoline inventories, and President-elect Donald Trump's press conference later Wednesday.