Stocks head higher at the start

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks opened higher Tuesday as recent fears about the credit market crisis and the health of the financial sector subsided, although gains were capped by record-high oil prices.

The Dow Jones industrials average (Charts) rose 0.3 percent in the opening minutes of trade.

The broader S&P 500 index (Charts) climbed nearly 0.5 percent, while the tech-laden Nasdaq (Charts) gained 0.3 percent.

Investors, which has grown accustomed lately to a daily delivery of bad news from the big Wall Street banks, got a reprieve Tuesday.

Just a day earlier, Citigroup's warning that it might suffer up to $11 billion more in mortgage-related losses weighed on the financial sector and sent major gauges lower.

Back in focus for Wall Street was sky-high oil prices, which jumped more than $2 a barrel to a new record high of $96.44 a barrel in electronic trading. Light, sweet crude for December gained $2.02 to $96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

And with no major economic reports on tap, investors were closely focused on earnings news.

Sun Microsystems (Charts, Fortune 500) returned to a profit that matched Wall Street forecasts when it reported results late Monday. But revenue fell a bit short of estimates, sending shares down nearly 2 percent in early morning trade on the Nasdaq.

Energy firm Valero (Charts, Fortune 500) said Tuesday its quarterly results fell more than 20 percent, hurt by weak refining margins, but still managed to stay ahead of Wall Street forecasts.

Cosmetics maker Revlon (Charts) drastically narrowed its losses in the most recent quarter from a year ago, the company said Tuesday, helped by higher sales and restructuring efforts.

And the agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland (Charts, Fortune 500) reported better-than-expected earnings.

Overseas, shares of the Chinese online commerce company Alibaba.com nearly tripled in their debut Tuesday. Web search giant Yahoo (Charts, Fortune 500) holds a 39 percent stake in Alibaba's parent company, Alibaba Group.

Markets in Asia finished mixed Tuesday, while major indexes in Europe were higher in midday trade. The dollar hit yet another record low versus the euro but edged higher versus the yen.

Treasury prices fell, lifting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.36 percent, down from 4.30 percent late Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar retreated to a new record low against the euro and retreated against the yen.

And gold prices continued to climb to new heights as COMEX gold for December added $12.10 to $822.90 an ounce.