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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks extend gains on soaring oil prices

Xinhua, February 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks continued to rise Tuesday, as oil prices surged for the third straight session to settle at their highest level in 2015.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 305.36 points, or 1.76 percent, to 17,666.40. The S&P 500 gained 29.18 points, or 1.44 percent, to 2,050.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 51.05 points, or 1.09 percent, to 4,727.74.

The oil prices jumped 7 percent on Tuesday, as a list of energy companies are planning to slash investment this year. U.S. oil price added more than 19 percent in the past three trading sessions.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery gained 3.48 dollars to settle at 53.05 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery moved up 3.16 dollars to close at 57.91 dollars a barrel.

The energy sector jumped 2.78 percent, leading the increases of the S&P 500's 10 sectors for the second day.

Adding positive sentiment to the market, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Monday that he would negotiate a new debt agreement for his country with the European Union. Greek stocks soared about 11 percent on Tuesday following the comments.

On the economic front, new orders for manufactured goods, which have dropped for five consecutive months, continued its decrease in December. It was down 3.4 percent, exceeding market consensus of a 2.2-percent decline, said the U.S. Commerce Department Tuesday.

In corporate news, Lending Club shares surged 5.35 percent to 20.29 dollars apiece Tuesday, after the company announced it launched a strategic, multi-year partnership with Alibaba. Lending Club will team up with Alibaba to offer sales financing to small U. S. business buying items from Chinese suppliers. Alibaba shares ticked up 0.53 percent to 90.61 dollars apiece.

"We believe that access to affordable credit through Alibaba and the Lending Club platform can become a competitive advantage for small businesses across America," said Renaud Laplanche, Lending Club's founder and chief executive officer.

The United Parcel Service (UPS) reported its adjusted diluted earnings per share of 1.25 dollars for the fourth quarter of 2014, flat to the same period of 2013. UPS shares edged up 0.44 percent to 100.57 dollars apiece.

Shares of General Motors rose 2.63 percent to 33.98 dollars apiece Tuesday, after the company said dealers in the United States delivered 202,786 vehicles last month for its best January sales in seven years. Endite