While you were sleeping: UPDATED Wall Street rises with oil surge

A rebound in commodities prices continues to push up Wall Street stocks with US crude rising 5.5% to $US37.90 a barrel.

Oil prices have risen 45% from a 13-year low reached in February, with investors hoping discussions among oil-producing nations will lead to an output freeze.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 67.18 points, or 0.4%, to 17,073.95. The S&P 500 climbed 0.1%, to 2001.76, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.2% to 4708.25.

Chevron and Exxon Mobil were among the biggest gainers in the Dow. The energy sector also led gains in the S&P 500, with Murphy Oil and Southwestern Energy both rising more than 9%.

"Oil is stabilising and that is helping to bolster sentiment in overall equity returns," Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, told Reuters.

"It appears that the extreme bearish scenarios are being discounted at the moment, and there seems to be a bias to the upside."

Brent oil traded above $US40 a barrel for the first time since December and settled up 5.5% at $US40.84.

"Money flows from broader financial markets are powering this broader rally in oil," Scott Shelton, energy broker with ICAP in Durham, North Carolina, told Reuters.

"I don't think the energy fundamentals for the next few days are going to matter much as the market is making a transition."

Improved US economic data
US Treasurys fell, as a string of stronger-than-expected economic data realigned expectations on the outlook for interest rates.

While 50 of the 60 economists polled by Bloomberg expect the Federal Reserve to leave rates unchanged at its next policy meeting March 15-16, traders have boosted bets it will lift rates later this year.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the session with a 0.3% drop from the previous close. The UK's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.3%, as did France's CAC 40 Index while Germany's DAX Index declined 0.5%.

Germany bunds rose, amid expectations European Central Bank policy makers will announce extra stimulus including a deposit rate cut after their meeting ends on Thursday.

"People are now taking profits after a decent run in the last weeks," Konstantin Giantiroglou, head of investment advisory and research at Neue Aargauer Bank in Brugg, Switzerland, told Bloomberg. "Economic data will become the dominant factor as everything looks so fragile, especially now ahead of ECB. The market expects the ECB to do something."

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals jumped, last up 9.9%, after the company said it would release preliminary quarterly results and guidance on March 15. Last month Valeant cancelled an investor call, delayed the release of its financial statements and withdrew its prior financial guidance.

(BusinessDesk)