Summary US stocks rose early Wednesday with petroleum-linked shares rallying on higher oil prices
NEW YORK (AFP) - US stocks rose early Wednesday with petroleum-linked shares rallying on higher oil prices and Twitter advancing on a report it is closer to being sold.
Devon Energy rose 1.5 percent and Marathon Oil 1.8 percent as oil prices jumped ahead of a weekly US petroleum inventory report.
Twitter gained 4.1 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported the social media company is expected to receive takeover bids this week. Possible suitors include Salesforce.com, Google and Disney.
Salesforce.com, described by the Journal article as an eager prospective Twitter buyer, slumped 7.9 percent.
About 35 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,254.36, up 0.5 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 2,158.59, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.4 percent to 5,311.46.
Monsanto added 0.8 percent as it reported that sales for the quarter ending August 31 rose 8.8 percent to $2.5 billion. The agricultural giant, which is being bought by Bayer in a $66 billion deal, reported a loss of $191 million.
Amazon rose 0.6 percent following an announcement of a new program for "Prime" subscribers that allows them unlimited access to a rotating selection of books and magazines.
Constellation Brands advanced 2.8 percent after the alcohol distributor reported a 19 percent jump in second-quarter earnings to $359 million.
