Stocks Advanced at Open

U.S. stocks advanced at open on Tuesday, rebounding from the heavy selling seen last week that left the main indexes at their multi-month lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 156.96 points, or 0.96%, to 16,555.53. The S&P 500 rose 19.60 points, or 1.02%, to 1,943.27. The Nasdaq Composite rose 67.72 points, or 1.46%, to 4,705.71.

Already weak oil prices extended their decline in early Asian hours. U.S. WTI (New York Mercantile Exchange) light sweet crude oil was 1.4 percent lower at $30.97 a barrel, while Brent (Intercontinental Exchange Europe) crude oil futures were also 1.4 percent lower at $31.12 a barrel.

Three Italian consumer organisations have urged EU antitrust regulators to investigate McDonald’s (MCD.N) franchise system in Europe, a month after the opening of an EU inquiry into the U.S. fast food company’s tax deals with Luxembourg.

Oil company BP is cutting some 4,000 jobs in exploration and production over the next two years amid sharp drops in the price of crude. The cost-cutting announced Tuesday comes as the price of oil dropped to a 12 year-low near $31 a barrel.