NEW YORK, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street ended higher Wednesday as another slide in oil prices, upbeat earnings and the hope that the U.S. lawmakers would pass a Fannie-Freddie rescue deal boosted the stocks.
Crude continued to tumble on Wednesday as the U.S. fuel stockpiles jumped more than expected while the domestic demand dropped to lowest since January 2007. Light, sweet crude fell 3.98U.S. dollars to settle at 124.44 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the first settlement below 125 dollars since June 5.
Financial sector extended their rebound on Wednesday as the U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said legislation to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest U.S. mortgage-finance companies, will send a very strong message of confidence to investors. According to Bloomberg, the U.S. lawmakers have agreed on a deal to help out the two companies. Both shares added 11 percent.
The stocks also got a lift from a mixed earnings reports on Wednesday. Warehouse retailer Costco Wholesale Corp. released a profit warning, while Dow Jones components McDonald's Corp. and AT&T Inc. all posted mostly upbeat results.
McDonald's said strong overseas sales contributed to second-quarter profit, which easily surpassed Wall Street expectations. AT&T, the biggest U.S. phone company, said quarterly profit rose amid a big spike in wireless subscribers.
The Dow Jones rose 29.88 to 11,632.38. Broader indexes also perked up. The Standard & Poor's 500 index edged up 5.18 to 1,282.18; and the Nasdaq rose 21.92 to 2,325.88.
