Wall Street closes higher as oil prices soar

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street ended higher Wednesday as crude prices jumped after reports OPEC decided to limit production.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 4.8 percent to $46.81 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude traded at $48.97 -- a 5.3 percent increase, at the final bell.

The sharp rise in oil prices came after reports that OPEC reached an agreement at an informal meeting in Algeria to trim output to 32.5 million barrels per day. That is approximately 750,000 barrels per day lower than the cartel's August level.

A formal and more detailed agreement is expected to be discussed at the cartel's meeting in November.

The rise in oil prices helped American oil and natural gas companies to higher stock prices.

ExxonMobil's shares gained 4.4 percent, while Chevron saw its stock price climb 3.1 percent. Chesapeake Energy and Devon Energy shares increased 8.3 percent each, while Marathon Oil and Murphy Oil Corporation had their stock values rise 8 and 11.3 percent, respectively.

With the rise in oil prices and energy stocks, Wall Street ended higher.

The Dow Jones was up 110 points to 18,339 and the S&P 500 closed at 2,171 with an 11-point gain. The Nasdaq added 12 points to finish at 5,318.