More gains in the price of crude oil send market indexes higher in early trading

NEW YORK – The U.S. stock market is opening higher as shares of energy companies rise.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 146 points, or 0.8 percent, to 17,506 shortly after trading began Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 14 points, or 0.7 percent, to an even 2,034. The Nasdaq composite rose 23 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,700.

The price of crude oil rose $1.07 to $50.64 a barrel in New York.

In Europe, Greece's stock market surged 10 percent after that country's finance minister said the new radical left government was willing to accept alternative strategies to making the country's debt load more bearable.