U.S. stocks rally amid data, oil recovery

U.S. stocks ended higher Wednesday, as investors assessed the newly-released economic data and a strong rebound in oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 41.23 points, or 0.23 percent, to 18,355.00. The S&P 500 increased 6.76 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,163.79.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 22.00 points, or 0.43 percent, to 5,159.74.

U.S. private sector employment increased by 179,000 jobs from June to July, better than market expectations, said the July ADP National Employment Report Wednesday.

The ADP figure is watched closely as a pre-indicator for the non-farm payrolls report due Friday.

"The result suggests a slight upside risk to the 180k consensus for July nonfarm payrolls, but ADP' s estimate is not really precise enough to be useful with that kind of precision," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, the U.S. non-manufacturing index registered 55.5 percent in July, 1 percentage point lower than the June reading of 56.5 percent, the Institute Supply Management reported Wednesday.

A strong rebound in oil prices also provided some upward jolts to the stock market.

Oil prices posted solid gains Wednesday, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude jumping over 3 percent, as official data from the country showed a larger-than-expected gasoline inventory drawdown. Enditem