While you were sleeping: UPDATED Oil surges on Opec deal to cut output

Oil rallied, as did energy stocks, after Opec agreed on details to cut output for the first time in eight years as it aims to stem a global glut.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures rocketed 9.3% to close at $US49.44 a barrel in New York.

Opec, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, agreed to cut production to 32.5 million barrels a day, down from 33.64 million, according to media reports.

"This should be a wake-up call for sceptics who have argued the death of OPEC," Energy Aspects chief oil analyst Amrita Sen told Bloomberg.

"The group wants to push inventories down."

Wall Street was mixed. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up less than two points to 19,123.58. It reached a record high of 19,225.29 early in the session.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index finished 0.3% down at 2198.81 after climbing to a record 2214.10. The Nasdaq Composite Inde was down 1.05% at 5323.68.

The Dow moved higher as Goldman Sachs, Chevron and Exxon Mobil shares rose, up 3.3%, 2.7% and 2.4% respectively, outweighed slides in Visa and Verizon, down 1.6% and 1.1% respectively.

Goldman advanced on a bullish buy report from Deutsche Bank.

Bond yields rise
US Treasurys dropped, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year note six basis points higher to 2.365%, the highest close since July 2015.

"This is more evidence of a divergence between rates markets in the euro zone and in the US," Antoine Bouvet, an interest-rates strategist at Mizuho International in London, told Bloomberg.

"The economic situation in the US makes the risk of inflation greater there and the potential for a rise in oil price compounds that risk."

The latest US jobs data further underpinned bets the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its two-day meeting starting on December 13.

An ADP Research Institute report shows US private payrolls rose a higher than expected 216,000 in November.

"There is nothing in today's reports that put a roadblock in front of a Fed rate hike in December," New York-based MUFG Union Bank chief economist Chris Rupkey told Reuters. "The economy continues to move ahead powered by the American consumer who has got the income to both spend and save for a rainy day."

Investors will eye Friday's nonfarm payrolls report, which is expected to show US employers added 175,000 jobs in November, according to a Reuters survey.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day with a 0.3% advance from the previous close, bolstered by energy stocks.

The UK's FTSE 100 Index and Germany's DAX Index both added 0.2%, while France's CAC 40 Index gained 0.6%.

(BusinessDesk)