Nasdaq jumps 1.69% as Wall Street gains on oil drop

US stocks closed higher on Thursday, 17 September, supported by falling oil prices and a restrictive stance from the Federal Reserve that encouraged expectations of cooling inflation. The Nasdaq led the gains on Wall Street with an advance of 1.69% to 26,418.30 points. The S&P 500 rose 1.14% to 7,637.76 units, while the Dow Jones added 0.61% to reach 51,778.04 points.

Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at Forex.com, told Bloomberg that optimism improved partly because oil prices fell for a second straight day, which eased pressure on bond yields following the Fed's restrictive signal on Wednesday.

European equities also closed higher. London's FTSE 100 gained 1.19% to 10,816.14 points after the Bank of England held interest rates unchanged. Spain's IBEX 35 rose 1.00% to 19,831.80 units.

In Mexico, returning from a local holiday, the S&P/BMV IPC advanced 0.58% to 63,873.32 points, and the FTSE-BIVA increased 0.55% to 1,297.18 points.

Commodity benchmarks declined as traders monitored Middle East supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.10% to 101.30 dollars per barrel, while Brent crude dropped 1.58% to 104.16 dollars per barrel.