Stocks Rally, Led by Tech and Energy

U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday, as Amazon and Apple led tech stocks higher and recovering crude prices bolstered energy shares. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 192.71 points, or 1.10%, to 17,720.98. The S&P 500 gained 21.86 points, or 1.06%, to 2,078.36. The Nasdaq Composite added 66.95 points, or 1.33%, to 5,107.94.

Oil jumped more than $1 a barrel on Tuesday as colder weather prompted buying a day after prices slid 3 percent. Brent settled up $1.17, or 3.2 percent, at $37.79 a barrel. WTI closed up $1.06, or 2.9 percent, at $37.87.

Consumer confidence had a somewhat stronger tone in December. The consumer confidence index rose to 96.5, the Conference Board said Tuesday. In addition, confidence in November was revised higher to 92.6 in November from 90.4, which was the lowest level in more than a year.

DuPont Co. plans to cut 1,700 jobs in its home state of Delaware as the agriculture-and-chemical giant pursues $700 million in cost savings ahead of its planned merger with Dow Chemical Co.