Stocks are mostly higher on Wall Street in afternoon trading

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries jumped $9.50, or 5 percent, to $209.40 after it gave strong projections for second quarter results and moved closer to completing a $40.5 billion purchase of Allergan's generic drug business.

Brent crude, a standard for international oil prices, lost $2.21, or 4.6 percent, to close at $46.26 a barrel in London.

THE QUOTE: "Good economic numbers could translate into decent second quarter earnings, and rates are low and should stay low," said Ernie Cecilia, chief investment officer of Bryn Mawr Trust.

Investors hope that the speedier-than-anticipated appointment of Theresa May as Britain's prime minister will help provide some clarity as to how the country wishes to proceed with its exit from the European Union.

The move has "settled the nerves" of investors, said James Hughes, chief market analyst at GKFX, helping ease the "huge uncertainty" that had been hurting markets.

Japanese stocks extended gains on hopes that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will expand bond purchases and flood the market with money now that his Liberal Democratic Party has emerged victorious from parliamentary elections on the weekend.

In other energy trading in New York, wholesale gasoline lost 5 cents, or 3.6 percent, to close at $1.38 a barrel, heating oil fell 8 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $1.38 a barrel and natural gas was flat at $2.74 per 1,000 cubic feet.