US benchmarks higher into close
Nasdaq up over 83
US cruder price higher
US stocks powered higher into the close and the oil price firmed.
The Nasdaq is up over 83 points at 6,463 and the S&P 500 added over 12 at 2,509.
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrials gained almost 66 points to stand at 22,350.
US crude is up 0.48% to US$52.13 a barrel at the time of writing.
The TSX in Toronto added over 132 points at 15,606.
MID-SESSION
US benchmarks were still higher at mid-session.
The Dow Jones added over 18 at 22,303, while the S&P 500 gained 5.48 at 2,502. The tech heavy Nasdaq gained almost 57 at 6,437.
RYB Education Inc (NASDAQ: RYB) shares added 41% after the group listed in New York and priced its initial public offering at $18.50 per share.
Overstock.com Inc ( NASDAQ: OSTK) added almost 18% following news from the company on a new alternative trading system to be launched with joint venture partners RenGen and Argon.
OPEN
US shares were higher at the open, as FTSE 1100 in London lagged, with financial stocks and banks on Wall Street doing well.
Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) added over 2% on the day to US$25.31, while Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) added almost 2% at US$72.25. Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) also went higher, adding 0.90% on the day.
The Dow Jones added over 24 at 22,308, while the S&P 500 added almost six points at 2,502. The Nasdaq added over 39 at 6,419. The oil price - West Texas Intermediate - gained 0.31% to US$52.05 each.
In Toronto, the TSX added over 32 points to stand at 15,506.
Among the most notable gainers on Nasdaq was Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IMNP), whose shares surged over 38% to US$1.66 thanks to positive results from an ongoing Phase 2 drug trial.
It told investors that the first six subjects enrolled in the study of the company’s bertilimumab in patients with moderate to severe bullous pemphigoid (BP), an autoimmune skin disease.
PREVIEW
US benchmarks are set to open higher mid-week after a mixed close yesterday, with Dow futures up 27 points.
The S&P 500 futures are 5.35 points higher at the time of writing, while the tech heavy Nasdaq looks to continue making gains after recent losses - up 20 points.
Twitter (NASDAQ:TWTR) shares nudged up 1.51% after -hours to US$16.84 after the social media firm said it was trialing doubling its maximum character limit on a tweet to 280 characters.