U.S. stocks rally after second U.S. presidential debate

U.S. stocks ended higher Monday, as Wall Street digested the latest information from Sunday's second U.S. presidential debate amid rising oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 88.55 points, or 0.49 percent, to 18,329.04. The S&P 500 gained 9.92 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2,163.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 36.27 points, or 0.69 percent, to 5,328.67.

Candidates for U.S. president Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton went after each other relentlessly on Sunday night in the second presidential debate, hitting each other hard with scandals.

Trump's campaign has been under fire recently, after a leaked 2005 video of the GOP standard bearer's vulgar remarks about women caused uproar.

A strong rebound in oil prices provided some upward jolts to the stock market. Oil prices surged Monday, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude settling over 51 U.S. dollars a barrel, after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to join an output cut deal.

Lifted by the rising oil prices, the energy sector gained 1.50 percent Monday as the biggest advancer in the S&P's ten sectors.

With no major economic data due Monday, investors were still sifting through Friday's jobs report. U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in September, lower than the market estimates of 176,000, and the unemployment rate rose slightly to 5 percent, announced the Labor Department.

Overseas stock markets also increased broadly Monday. European equities posted sizable gains amid oil recovery. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange jumped 1.27 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index gained 0.75 percent.

In Asia, Chinese stocks leapt Monday after a 7-day holiday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index going up 1.45 percent to 3,048.14 points. Endit