Investing.com – Wall Street was mixed on Tuesday, as higher oil prices boosted markets slightly.
The S&P 500 gained six points or 0.23% to 2,733.01 as of 9:40 AM ET (13:40 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 133 points or 0.55% to 24,444.54 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite inched down five points or 0.07% to 7,562.56.
The price of oil rose more than 1% after Libya declared force majeure on significant amounts of its supply. Crude oil futures rose 1.58% to $75.11 a barrel, its highest level since 2014.
Trade tariffs remained on the back of investors minds, as the U.S. is set to block China Mobile from offering services in the U.S. market, citing possible national security risks. The move comes just days before the U.S. is expected to impose tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday.
Trading is expected to be thin ahead of the U.S. independence day holiday, with markets closing early at 1:00 P.M. ET (17:00 GMT).
Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) was among the top gainers after the morning bell, rising 1.50% while Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) gained 2.80% and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 0.20%. Meanwhile Boeing (NYSE:BA) increased 0.63% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) rose 0.58%.
Elsewhere Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) fell 1.14% after news that the FBI and other federal agencies have joined a Department of Justice probe into the use of Facebook data by Cambridge Analytica while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) declined 2.42% amid reports that its top engineer Doug Field is leaving.
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 141 points or 1.14% while in France the CAC 40 increased 54 points or 1.04% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 78 points or 1.04%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 34 points or 1.02% while Spain’s IBEX 35 surged 73 points or 0.77%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.91% to $1,253.00 a troy ounce while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched down 0.19% to 94.42.