US stocks rally as banks gain and oil prices rise

New York - Wall Street stocks rallied on Thursday, with banking and oil shares gaining, as US fourth-quarter growth was upgraded and oil prices rose above $50 a barrel.

Investors took heart after the US Commerce Department revised GDP growth up by 0.2 points to 2.1% for the final three months of last year, due in part to more robust personal consumption spending.

Analysts also cited gains in the oil market, which closed above $50 in the US for the first time in more than three weeks after Kuwait's oil minister endorsed Opec output curbs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% the close the trading session at 20 728.49.

Likewise, the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3% to end at 2 368.06, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also rose 0.3% to 5 914.34.

Bank of America gained 2.3%, while other leading banks including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs climbed more than one percent.

Yoga and athletic attire company Lululemon Athletica sank 23.4% as it projected first-quarter sales and profits well below analyst expectations and said it experienced a "slow" start to 2017.

Other companies that sell athletic apparel were pressured as well, including Nike, which lost 1.2%, and Under Armour, which shed 2.3%.

ConocoPhillips jumped 8.8% after announcing a deal to sell 50% of the Foster Creek Christina Lake oil sands project, as well as some Canadian natural gas assets, to Cenovus for $13.3bn.

Cenovus slumped 13.7% as the DBRS rating agency placed the company under review for a possible credit rating downgrade.