Wall St rises as energy shares gain with oil

By Caroline Valetkevitch

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday as energy shares gained with oil prices and as polls showed Hillary Clinton's lead widening in the U.S. presidential campaign.

Oil prices rose to a one-year high after Russia said it was ready to join OPEC in curbing crude output and Algeria's oil minister said he expected similar commitments from other non-OPEC producers.

The energy index <.SPNY> was up 1.4 percent. Exxon and Chevron were among the top influences on the S&P and the Dow.

"The debate further set in stone that Hillary Clinton is the likely winner," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.

 

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on Monday showed Clinton increasing the lead she has held over Donald Trump for months. Wall Street strategists have said a Clinton victory may be more positive for stocks because her positions are well known.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 98.64 points, or 0.54 percent, to 18,339.13, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 10.97 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,164.71 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 41.94 points, or 0.79 percent, to 5,334.35.

Trading was light because of the Columbus Day holiday.

Mylan rose 8.4 percent after the drugmaker on Friday said it would pay $465 million to settle questions over whether it underpaid U.S. government healthcare programs by misclassifying its EpiPen emergency allergy treatment.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.63-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.53-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 129 new highs and 34 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Nick Zieminski)