US Stocks Buoyed by Higher Oil Prices; Investors Await Third Quarter Earnings

New York (Oct 10)  US stocks closed higher Monday as oil prices gained steam and Wall Street looked ahead to the start of earnings season.

The S&P 500 gained 0.46%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49% and the Nasdaq added 0.69%.

Oil prices in the U.S. settled higher by 1.80% to $51.35 a barrel - its highest closing price in roughly 15 months. The rally was fueled by remarks from Russian President Vladimir Putin saying his nation, which is not an OPEC member, would participate in the cartel's plan to cut production.

Mexico's peso strengthened against the dollar as investors priced in a Clinton victory and the chances of a Trump presidency diminished after a tumultuous weekend for the candidate. Trump has repeatably expressed interest in building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

European markets rose and the FTSE 100 closed at a fresh high for the year. The pound fell 0.68% against the dollar after last week's flash crash.

Shares of drugmaker Tesaro (TSRO) spiked 18% after its ovarian cancer drug, niraparib, yielded positive results in a trial, reported TheStreet's Adam Feuerstein.

Merck (MRK) shares rose 1.8% following successful outcomes in Phase II/III trials of its lung cancer drug Keytruda. Bristol-Myers (BMY) , which saw its shares fall 10%, is developing a similar drug called Opdivo, which is for newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer patients. In August, the company reported negative late-stage trial results for Opdivo when compared with chemotherapy.

Source: TheStreet