Rising crude oil prices lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow climbing 86 points to 17,576. Nasdaq gained 25 points to 5,011.

On the upside

Anavex Life Sciences (Nasdaq: AVXL) will design a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2/3 study for its Alzheimer's disease treatment ANAVEX 2-73.

Vipshop Holdings (NYSE: VIPS) reported sharply higher third quarter earnings and revenue.

Gerdau (NYSE: GGB) raised $239 million through a private offering.

On the downside

Shares of SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE) and TerraForm Power (Nasdaq: TERP) continued falling.

Piper Jaffray cut its price target on GoPro (Nasdaq: GPRO) from $20 to $15.

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) will pay approximately $2.4 billion in cash to acquire Fairchild Semiconductor (Nasdaq: FCS).

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 gained 10 points to 2,060. Bitcoin slipped $2 to $332.