New York ? Wall Street posted a sizable advance Wednesday after the government reported a larger-than-expected increase in orders for big-ticket manufactured goods that indicated the economy could be stronger than some investors thought.

The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods jumped 1.3 percent in July compared with the previous month, led by a big gain in demand for commercial aircraft. That was well above the 0.1 increase expected by economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. Durable goods also include cars, appliances and machinery.

Light, sweet crude rose $1.88 to settle at $118.15 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on worries that Tropical Storm Gustav could enter the Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane and disrupt oil and natural gas production.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 89.64, or 0.79 percent, to 11,502.51 after rising more than 140 points.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 10.15, or 0.80 percent, to 1,281.66, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 20.49, or 0.87 percent, to 2,382.46.