Wall Street gains as trade fears ease, oil prices jump

By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after the Trump administration eased its stance on curbing Chinese investments in American technologies and as oil prices surged.

President Donald Trump said he will use a strengthened national security review panel - the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) - to deal with potential threats from Chinese acquisition of U.S. technology, instead of imposing China-specific restrictions.

"Today's development was a positive one," said Emily Roland, head of capital markets research at John Hancock Investments in Boston. "It looks like Trump may dial back plans to impose restrictions on China."

The S&P 500 tumbled as much as 2 percent on Monday after reports that the U.S. Treasury Department was drafting curbs that would block firms with at least 25 percent Chinese ownership from buying U.S. tech firms.

The S&P industrial sector jumped 0.78 percent on Wednesday, with Boeing and Caterpillar, both of which are highly reliant on China for revenue, rising about 2 percent.

The S&P energy index was up 1.9 percent, the most among the 11 major sectors and on pace for its best day in nearly a month, as oil prices jumped nearly 3 percent after plunging U.S. crude stockpiles compounded supply concerns.

At 11:18 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 193.41 points, or 0.80 percent, at 24,476.52, the S&P 500 was up 13.88 points, or 0.51 percent, at 2,736.94 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 14.36 points, or 0.19 percent, at 7,575.99.

Among stocks, General Electric gained about 4 percent, riding the optimism from the industrial conglomerates' restructuring plans announced on Tuesday.

Conagra dropped 7.1 percent after the company said it would buy Pinnacle Foods for about $8.1 billion in cash and stock. Pinnacle Foods fell 4.1 percent after the widely anticipated deal announcement.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.21-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while, on the Nasdaq, declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.67-to-1 ratio.

The S&P index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 43 new highs and 40 new lows.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)