Roundup: U.S. stocks post weekly gains amid oil prices, data

U.S. stocks rallied in the past week as investors were assessing the surging oil prices and the latest economic data from the country.

For the holiday-shortened week, all three major indices posted solid gains, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq going up 1.5 percent, 1.4 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

Oil prices surged to their highest level in three weeks, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude jumping about 4 percent, as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) appeared to be moving closer to reaching an agreement to cut output next week.

In response, the energy sector leapt 2.20 percent Monday to lead the advancers in the S&P 500's 10 sectors and all three major indices set new closing records on Monday.

On the economic front, U.S. existing-home sales ascended in October for the second straight month and eclipsed June's cyclical sales peak to become the highest annualized pace in nearly a decade, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.

Total existing-home sales grew 2.0 percent from an upwardly revised 5.49 million in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.60 million in October, beating market consensus of 5.42 million.

"The unexpected surge in October is likely a result of lingering demand from the summer selling season even as limited supply and rising prices has largely kept a lid on home sales growth for the past year," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial.

U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in October increased 11.0 billion U.S. dollars or 4.8 percent to 239.4 billion dollars, well above market consensus, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

In a separate report, the department announced that sales of new single-family houses in October 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 563,000, missing market estimates of 590,000.

"The larger than expected decline in October, however, came before the recent increases in mortgage rates, which is likely to put a damper on any would be upward momentum in the housing market heading into 2017," said Kearney-Lederman.

In the week ending Nov. 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 251,000, an increase of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday.

The international trade deficit was 62.0 billion dollars in October, up 5.5 billion dollars from 56.5 billion dollars in September, the Commerce Department announced Friday.

Moreover, market investors were digesting the Federal Reserve's minutes from its November meeting.

According to the minutes released Wednesday afternoon, U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a faster pace in the third quarter than in the first half of the year and labor market conditions continued to strengthen in recent months.

"(Federal Open Market Committee) Members generally agreed that the case for an increase in the policy rate had continued to strengthen. However, members emphasized that the actual path of the federal funds rate would depend on the economic outlook as informed by incoming data," said the minutes. Endit