Wall Street closes higher with oil rise, strong growth

NEW YORK (AA) - Wall Street closed higher Thursday with rising oil prices and stronger than expected quarterly growth numbers.

The Dow added 69 points to end the day at 20,728, while the S&P 500 gained six points to 2,368.

The Nasdaq increased 16 points to finish at 5,914.

At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $50.34 -- a 1.7 percent increase. International benchmark Brent crude was up 1.1 percent to $53.12.

The U.S. economy grew 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the Commerce Department. That figure beat market expectations of a 2 percent growth increase.