Stocks Ended Moderately Higher as oil Rallied

U.S. stocks closed moderately higher on Wednesday on the back of a rebound in oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 41.23 points, or 0.23% to 18,355.00. The S&P 500 rose 6.76 points, or 0.31%, to 2,163.79. The Nasdaq Composite was up 22.01 points, or 0.43%, to 5,159.74.

Oil futures ended sharply higher Wednesday, taking back a chunk of this week’s hefty losses after an unexpectedly large drop in gasoline inventories. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September jumped $1.32, or 3.3%, to settle at $40.83 a barrel.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in talks to buy online discount retailer Jet.com Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, in what would mark a disappointing end for one of the most ambitious challengers to Amazon.com Inc.

A poor quarter for Time Warner Inc.’s TV, videogame and film and home entertainment division, Warner Bros., caused the company’s overall revenue to decline and fall short of Wall Street expectations. While revenue at Turner improved 6.5%, compared with the same quarter last year, and HBO revenue rose 2.0%, it wasn’t enough to offset Warner Bros.’ 19.4% decline.