Stocks Advanced for a Second Straight Session

U.S. stocks advanced for a second straight session on Wednesday, on the back of a rally in energy and materials shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 145.46 points, or 0.82%, to 17,851.51. The S&P 500 rose 14.48 points, or 0.70%, to 2,090.54. The Nasdaq Composite was up 33.83 points, or 0.70%, to 4,894.89.

Oil prices climbed to just shy of $50 a barrel on Wednesday after a sharper-than-expected fall in crude inventories. Brent settled up $1.13 at $49.74, U.S. crude’s settled 94 cents higher at $49.56.

HP Inc (HPQ.N) reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue as it struggles with weak demand for personal computers and printers. Revenue in the company’s personal systems business fell 9.9 percent in the second quarter ended April 30 from a year earlier, while revenue declined 15.8 percent in the printing division.

On Wednesday, the European Union proposed new rules that could force Netflix, and other streaming services, to give a chunk of their revenue to fund European films and TV shows.