Wall Street shot higher today, lifting the Dow Jones industrials nearly 320 points after reassuring news from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. quelled some of the market’s worst fears about the credit crisis and the economy. A plunge in the price of oil gave investors further incentive to buy.

Goldman Sachs heartened investors with word that it didn’t expect a significant hit from the subprime mortgage turmoil. Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, speaking at a conference held by Merrill Lynch & Co., said the bank has a short position in the subprime mortgage market and won’t be taking any significant charges to write off losses.

Goldman’s news helped offset an announcement from Bank of America Inc., which joined other big financial companies including Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch that have recently revealed heavy writedowns from soured mortgages; BofA said it will record $3 billion in pretax writedowns in the fourth quarter.

Goldman’s assessment was the first substantial good news from the financial services industry about a company’s credit exposure, and was comforting to investors whose fears about widening credit problems have sent Wall Street plunging over the past month.

“People just want to know what’s out there,” a managing director of equity trading at Cowen & Co., Todd Leone, said. “They want to feel like they’re being told the truth.”

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, reported third-quarter profit surpassed projections and hinted that consumer spending might be stronger than anticipated this holiday shopping season. The results also showed that heavy discounting during the period did not hurt margins, which the company said bodes well for the fourth quarter.

A sharp pullback in energy prices also encouraged Wall Street. Oil prices plummeted after the International Energy Agency reduced its expectations for demand in the fourth quarter and next year and said crude supplies are growing. Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $3.45 to settle at $91.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 319.54, or 2.46%, to 13,307.09.

A day earlier, a turbulent session pushed the Dow below 13,000 for the first time since August. Today’s advance snapped a four-day losing streak for the blue chip index.

Broader indexes also rose sharply today. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index jumped 41.86, or 2.91%, to 1,481.04, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 89.52, or 3.46%, to 2,673.65.

“Over the last week there has been so much bloodshed on the Street, it’s finally enticed people back to the market,” a senior equity trader at Voyageur Asset Management, Ryan Larson, said. “At some point, it’s hard to turn your head when all these issues become so cheap.”

Bonds fell as investors moved back into stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.26% from 4.22% late Friday. The market was closed yesterday in observance of Veterans Day.

Gold prices declined, settling at $799 an ounce on the Nymex. It was the first close below $800 since November 2. The dollar was mixed.

Investors were expected to position their portfolios ahead of key economic data out during the week. Two key barometers of inflation and the economy will be released, with the Labor Department’s Producer Price Index tomorrow and the Consumer Price Index on Thursday.