Stocks Opened Higher, Oil Jumped

U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday, as jump in oil prices to near $50 a barrel lifted energy and materials stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately added 125.32 points, or 0.71%, to 17,831.37. The S&P 500 was up 13.26 points, or 0.64%, to 2,089.32. The Nasdaq Composite was up 23.48 points, or 0.48%, to 4,884.54.

U.S. oil prices traded at their highest level in seven months on Wednesday after an industry group reported a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories last week. Brent crude rose 1.3% to $49.22 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading up 1% at $49.12 a barrel.

Citigroup (C.N) and its affiliates have agreed to pay a collective $425 million to resolve civil charges the bank attempted to manipulate several key benchmarks, including the U.S. dollar ISDAFIX, the Yen Libor and the Euroyen TIBOR, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA) said it was being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over whether the Chinese e- commerce company’s accounting practices violated any federal laws. The company has provided the SEC with information about its accounting for its logistics unit, Cainiao Network, as well as operating data from its Singles’ Day shopping festival, according to Alibaba’s annual report filed on Monday.

Microsoft Corp. early on Wednesday morning announced a further step in dismantling the mobile-phone operations it acquired from Nokia Corp. The software giant will lay off 1,850 workers, taking an impairment and restructuring charge of approximately $950 million, the company said.

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