Stocks Closed Higher as Oil Rose

U.S. stocks closed higher on Wednesday, thanks to a jump in the energy sector following higher oil prices. The Dow JonesIndustrial Average added 34.24 points, or 0.20%, to 16,899.32. The S&P 500 was up 8.10 points, or 0.41%, to 1,986.45.The Nasdaq Composite gained 13.83 points, or 0.29%, to 4,703.42.

Oil futures finished higher on Wednesday, as weekly data from the U.S. government revealed a fall in weekly domesticcrude output. April West Texas Intermediate crude rose 26 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $34.66 a barrel on the New YorkMercantile Exchange. Brent crude added 12 cents, or 0.3% to $36.93 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.

U.S. economic activity continued to expand in most districts from early January to late February but conditions variedconsiderably across regions and within sectors, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

Tribune Publishing’s transformation under new Chairman Michael Ferro picked up pace Wednesday with the announcement of sweeping leadership changes across the Chicago-based media company.

Cisco Systems Inc. announced a $320 million deal to buy Leaba Semiconductor, an Israeli company that designs networking chips. On Tuesday, Cisco announced a $260 million deal to buy CliQr Technologies, a startup that helps companies manage software internally or on external cloud services.