Stocks Rise On Rally Of Oil Prices

Stocks In America rose as a rally in oil prices boosted energy shares, outweighing concern that financial companies face more writedowns after American International Group Inc. said it understated losses in some assets.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Conoco-Phillips led energy producers to their third-straight gain. Chevron Corp. climbed after being added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Yahoo! Inc. rose to a three-month high following its rejection of Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion takeover bid as too low. AIG fell the most since 1987 as auditors said they found weakness in the insurer's accounting for credit-default swaps. Prudential Financial Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also declined.

"You've had some measure of indiscriminate selling such that you can find real attractive value opportunities," a manager of more than $15 billion at Manning & Napier Advisors Inc. in Fairport, N.Y., Christian Andreach, said. "The technology shares were out of favor for much of the year, so people are getting back in. What will probably drive oil prices is the perception of the health of the economy."

Energy shares in the S&P 500 gained 32% in 2007 for the steepest advance among 10 industries as global economic growth boosted demand around the world. Technology companies added 16% last year, the fourth-biggest gain, before giving up all the gains since the beginning of 2008.