NEW YORK, Jun. 29, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Wall Street opened slightly higher Monday, as higher oil prices lifted energy producers.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) increased as crude climbed above 70 U.S. dollars a barrel. J.C. Penney Co. (NYSE:JCP) gained after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) raised its recommendation for the third-largest U.S. department-store chain to "overweight."

There is little economic or corporate news scheduled for Monday. Investors attached attention to the sentencing of Bernard Madoff, the mastermind behind a multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors are seeking a 150-year jail sentence.

The Dow Jones rose 26.30 to 8,464.69. Broader indexes also moved higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index increased 1.72 to 920.62; and the Nasdaq rose 1.62 to 1,839.84.