Wall Street closes higher with oil rally

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street closed higher Tuesday as oil prices jumped around 6 percent to reach their highest level in two weeks.

OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo will reportedly travel to member states to discuss the cartel's plan to limit production quotas.

News of the trip helped to boost hopes that a limit could be achieved at the cartel's semi-annual meeting in Vienna at the end of the month, analysts said.

Iran, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria asked to be exempt from any deal that would limit their outputs but even the possibility of a production limitation helped prices climb Tuesday.

At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 5.8 percent to $45.82. International benchmark Brent crude was at $47.09 a barrel -- a 6 percent rise.

Indexes had a strong finished as a result.

The Dow added 54 points to end the day at 18,923, marking seven consecutive days of gains. During trading hours, the index reached 18,925 -- a new all-time high.

The S&P added 16 points to close at 2,180 and the Nasdaq was up 57 points to 5,275.