(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)Stocks have topped up the morning's gains in the lunchtime session mirroring rises in European markets and sparked by a resurgent oil price. The S&P 500 was up 1.5% at 1857 while the Dow Jones average was up by a similar percentage at 15900. The Nasdaq Composite lagged a little up 1.3% at 4323. In the commodities market oil was back with a bang on continued rumors that Opec is mulling a production cut. West Texas intermediate for March delivery rose by more than a tenth in morning trading to US$28.85 a barrel. In company news Intercept Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ICPT) was roaring ahead advancing 29% to $121.97 on reports that the company is talking with several potential suitors. The mutter from the gutter is that major shareholder Genextra will only consider selling up if it gets $240 a share. Drugs majors AstraZeneca Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) are said to be sniffing around. Open US stocks hit the comeback trail at the outset helped by an oil price rally and some retail sales figures that were ahead of expectations. The US oil benchmark West Texas light sweet crude rose by $1.50 in price to $27.71 a barrel gingering up demand for energy stocks Retail sales excluding motor vehicles gasoline building materials and food services rose 0.6% in January after declining 0.3% the month before. Economists had tipped a 0.3% increase in core retail sales. The S&P 500 was up 14 points at 1844 after almost an hour of trading while the more narrowly-based Dow Jones 30 was up 125 at 15786. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 26 points at 4292. Quotient Technology (NYSE:QUOT) the company formerly known as Coupons.com was the top riser on the New York Stock Exchange after investors climbed on board following last night's trading update. Fourth quarter revenue was up 16% year-on-year but adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) pulled back to $7.5mln from $8.3mln the year before. The shares rose almost 25% to $6.83. Also flying high was Top Image Systems (NASDAQ:TISA) a payments processing solutions provider. The shares rose 5% to just under $2 on the back of yesterday's news that the company will deploy eFLOW Invoice for SAP at the Austrian finance center and also at the document center of a German subsidiary of one of the world's top car makers. Preview After diving to their lowest levels in almost two years on Thursday stock market benchmarks are tipped to bounce back this morning. Helped by a solid performance in Europe and a rally in the oil price investors are expected to return to the market and drive the S&P 500 up to around 1849 up 20 points or so from last night's close. Quotes on spread betting sites have the Dow Jones average opening at around 15808 compared to last night's close of 15660. The oil benchmark West Texas intermediate for March delivery has surged this morning rising 4.2% to US$27.32 a barrel while in another sign of increasing investor confidence the old defensive standby of gold has lost some of its allure this morning easing 0.5%. On the corporate front attention is likely to be focused on Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) the computer games publisher behind 'World of Warcraft' which crashed 12% in post-close screen-based trading last night after disappointing with an earnings update.
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