While you were sleeping: UPDATED US stocks lift as oil nears $US50

Stocks on Wall Street rose in a broad rally with the price of oil rising to nearly $US50 a barrel on an unexpected drop in US stockpiles and better than expected data on the US services industry.

An Institute for Supply Management report showed its non-manufacturing index climbed to 57.1 in September, the highest since October 2015 and up from 51.4 in August.

"The markets are taking the economic news positively, but it is a double-edged sword in our opinion because a better economy means the Fed is going to finally start moving on rates," Connecticut-based Ranger Alternative Management co-manager Brad Lamensdorf told Reuters.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.58 points, or 0.6%, to 18,281.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.5% to 5316.02 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.4% to 2159.73.

Also helping US equities was the price of oil, up 2.3% to $US49.83 a barrel, after a US Energy Information Administration report showed crude stockpiles fell in the week ended September 30. Inventories had been forecast to rise.

Gains in Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar shares, up 2.3% and 2.2% respectively, led the Dow higher.

Monsanto delivers surprise profit
Monsanto, the US seeds company that is being bought by Germany's Bayer, posted a surprise fourth-quarter profit and said it expects earnings growth this year. Even so, it offered an outlook that fell short of expectations.

"Despite challenges to our business in the fiscal year 2016, we delivered on the drivers that position Monsanto for the return to EPS growth in the year ahead," chief executive Hugh Grant says.

Monsanto says it remains confident it will close the deal with Bayer by the end of next year.

"We are entering a new era in agriculture, where growers are demanding new solutions and technologies to be more profitable and more sustainable," Mr Grant says.

"We believe that combining with Bayer secures our shared vision to provide a wide set of solutions to meet these demands and feed a growing world."

Monsanto shares traded 0.4% higher at $US102.53 as of 12.58pm in New York.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the day with a drop of 0.6%, amid concern the European Central Bank is looking to lower its monetary policy support. Germany's DAX Index fell 0.3%, as did France's CAC 40 Index, while the UK's FTSE 100 Index shed 0.6%.

"I am surprised at the reaction, but it's just this notion that the ECB may be discussing tapering one day that has upset the market," ING rates strategist Benjamin Schroeder told Reuters.

It wasn't all pessimism.

Tesco shares rallied, closing 9.8% higher in London, after Britain's number one supermarket reported better than expected sales and says it plans to double profit margins, bolstering optimism it is regaining ground against low-cost rivals.

"These results illustrate a business moving out of crisis to one showing real confidence in its recovery," Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis says.

(BusinessDesk)