U.S. Stocks rally as oil prices fall

U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday as oil prices fell sharply.

World crude oil prices fell below 67 dollars a barrel Wednesday while U.S. commercial crude oil and gasoline inventories rose. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, dropped 1.36 dollars to settle at 66.56 dollars a barrel.

Among the companies on focus, shares of Boeing, a Dow component, climbed 4.9 percent to 71.62 dollars, after the biggest aviation producer posted forecast-beating quarterly results and lifted its 2006 profit outlook. Boeing said its fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled as its resurgent commercial airplane division boosted revenue and profit margins.

Google shares slid 7.1 percent, or 30.88 dollars, to close at 401.78 dollars on Nasdaq, registering its biggest one-day percentage drop since going public in 2004, after the internet company's fourth-quarter profit fell short of analyst estimates.

At the closing time, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 89. 09, or 0.82 percent, to 10,953.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.38, or 0.19 percent, to 1,282.46, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 4.74, or 0.21 percent, to 2,310.56.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of about 9 to 7 on the NYSE and by about 8 to 7 on the Nasdaq.

Source: Xinhua