Banking, Energies Lead Stocks Higher

NEW YORK (AP) -- Banking and energy companies are leading an early gain Wednesday on Wall Street, bucking a global drift lower. The price of crude oil moved sharply higher. Chesapeake Energy rose 4 percent, the biggest gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 index.

THE SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 115 points, or 0.6 percent, to 18,284 as of 10:07 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 11 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,161. The Nasdaq composite climbed 30 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,320.

GUSHER: The price of U.S. benchmark crude rose 1.8 percent to $49.56 a barrel on reports that stockpiles fell sharply last week. It's moved sharply higher since OPEC announced a preliminary deal last week that would limit production, and is up now from a February low of $26. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.6 percent to $51.69 a barrel in London.

BEER BOUNCE: Constellation Brands rose $4.66, or 2.8 percent, to $170.51 after it reported strong sales of beers like Corona and Modelo in its latest quarter. It raised its projections for sales growth for its beer business.

HIRING SLOWS: U.S. businesses added 154,000 jobs in September, the slowest pace of hiring since April, a private survey found. Payroll processor ADP said manufacturers cut jobs for the eighth straight month and professional and business services, which includes high-paying jobs such as accountants and engineers, added the fewest jobs in five months.

EUROPE DOWN: Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.6 percent to 7,047 and France's CA 40 retreated 0.3 percent to 4,483. Germany's DAX dropped 0.2 percent.

ASIA'S DAY: South Korea's Kospi finished 0.1 percent lower and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.4 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 finished 0.5 percent higher.

BONDS AND CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.72 percent from 1.69 percent. The euro slipped to $1.1191 from $1.1197 and the dollar rose to 103.52 yen from 102.81.

(KA)