New York, NY (BBN)- Stocks on Wall Street closed at a record high as oil traded sharply higher. The Dow reached 18,956.
The price of oil jumped more than 4.0 per cent on hopes that the Opec group of oil producing nations will agree to cut output when it meets next week, reports BBC.
Brent crude rose $2.25 to $49.11 a barrel while US light crude climbed $2.05 to $48.41 a barrel.
Oil companies were buoyed by that news, with Marathon Oil closing 5.1% higher and Exxon Mobil adding 1.3 per cent.
All three major stock indices set new records.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 88.76 points to 18,956.69, while the wider S&P 500 index closed 16.28 points higher at 2,198.18.
The tech-focused Nasdaq index jumped 47.35 points, to end the day at 5,368.86.
Shares in Facebook rose 4.1 per cent after the social media giant announced on Friday that it was planning to buy back up to $6bn of its shares early next year.
Security software maker Symantec agreed to buy LifeLock, a company that offers protection against identity theft and fraud for $2.3bn. LifeLock's shares rose 14.7 per cent.
BBN/SSR/AD