U.S. stocks extend gains on surging oil

U.S. stocks ended higher Wednesday after choppy trading, as investor sentiment was boosted by a strong rebound in oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 110.94 points, or 0.61 percent, to 18,339.24. The S&P 500 increased 11.44 points, or 0.53 percent, to 2,171.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 12.84 points, or 0.24 percent, to 5,318.55.

Oil prices soared Wednesday, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude jumping over 5 percent, as a report said that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has reached a deal to cut oil output for the first time since 2008.

Lifted by surging oil prices, the energy sector spiked 4.34 percent as the biggest advancer in the S&P 500's ten sectors.

Meanwhile, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday in a prepared testimony to the House Financial Services Committee that U.S. banks are well capitalized, but remain challenged by weak interest income, according to media reports.

She later said the central bank does not have a "fixed timetable" for raising rates.

On the economic front, U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in August decreased 0.1 billion U.S. dollars and was virtually unchanged at 226.9 billion dollars, the Commerce Department said. Analysts had expected a 1.9 percent decline.

This decrease in new orders, which is down three of the last four months, followed a 3.6 percent July increase.

"July's initial durable goods report was much better than expected, but the downward revisions to July coupled with the stall in momentum in August suggest domestic manufacturing isn't going to shock the economy to a faster pace," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial, in a note. Enditem