The Street Ends Higher After Late-Day Rally

U.S. stocks staged a late-session rally to close higher on Wednesday as a turnaround in oil prices helped investors shrug off concerns about banks' vulnerability to decade-low oil prices and enabled financials to curb early losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 53.21 points, or 0.32 percent, to 16,484.99, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 8.53 points, or 0.44 percent, to 1,929.8 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 39.02 points, or 0.87 percent, to 4,542.61.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski)