US stock market opens higher with oil price gains

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - The stock market opened higher to begin the first trading day of 2017 with gains after an increase in oil prices.

The Dow added 147 points to start the day at 19,909 and the S&P 500 rose 16 points to 2,255.

The Nasdaq increased 39 points to open at 5,422.

Crude oil prices jumped over 2 percent Tuesday after OPEC's deal to limit its output became effective on Jan. 1. Investors have begun taking a buying position with the hopes that OPEC's plan would help the market to rid the glut of supply worldwide.

At the first bell in Wall Street, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $55.05 per barrel with a 2.3 percent increase. International benchmark Brent crude was at $58.17 a barrel -- a 2.2 percent gain.